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4f years in the ITALY 
MISSION. 

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Address, Auburn, Me. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR: 



THE EVIDENCE OF SALVATION 

OR 

The Direct Witness of the Spirit. 
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4i YEARS 

V 6 y 



IN THE 



i-X. 

ITALY MISSION 



A CRITICISM 



OF 



MISSIONARY METHODS 



BY 



Rev. EVERETT S. STACKPOLE, D.D. 



LEWISTON MAINE 

^PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL OFFICE 
1894 






/y 






1 \ 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Introduction by the Author, . . 5 

The Call and Journey, . . . . 13 
Learning the Language, ... 38 

Italian Methodism, . . . . . 47 

Starting a Theological School, . . 58 

Conference at Milan, . . . . 77 

Visitation of the Churches, . . . 88 

Some Odious (?) Comparisons, . . 104 

Conferences at Bologna and Florence, 114 

Ministerial Salaries, . . . .125 

Self-Support, . . . . . .137 

Training of Native Preachers, . . 153 

Educational Policy, . . . . 166 

Difficulties and Encouragements, . . 173 
Supervision, . . . . . .184 

Evangelization of Italian Imj^hgrants, . 194 
Conclusion, 204 



INTRODUCTION. 



Some one has written an account of his travels in 
Europe, entitled '' Sights and Insights." This book 
is devoted solely to insights. We have no concern 
with natural scenery, imposing architecture, and works 
of art. We leave these things to the writers of guide- 
books. As an agent of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church we feel it our duty to make our report. How 
often the genial and eloquent Chaplain has told us 
that the way to get a good collection for the Missionary 
Society is to tell the people what has been done with 
the money already given. We agree with him per- 
fectly. The contributors have a right to know all the 
facts. It is not just to tell them a few of the most 
encouraging facts and to conceal from them the fail- 
ures. It is an ungracious task for those who stay at 
home to recount the defeats of those who go out to 
battle, but surely one who has suffered loss at the 
front may be permitted to point out the defective 
movements in the campaign and warn of ambuscades 
those who may renew the charge. 

Bishop Thoburn has set us the good example of 



6 The Italy Mission 

criticising some missionary methods hitherto in vogue, 
and has shown very clearly the wisdom of acknowl- 
edging defeat. He says : 

' ' With regard to criticism . . . from whatever 
quarter, it is a mistake — a very serious mistake — for 
missionaries and their friends to resent such criticisms 
as hostile attacks directed against them and their 
work. No great public movement can afford to dis- 
approve downright, straightforward and earnest crit- 
icism ; and even if it have a hostile element in it, it 
by no means follows that it must, in the nature of the 
case, be hurtful. It will have to be conceded that the 
miissionary reports for the past half century have not 
been written with that spirit of frankness and candor, 
and with that conscientious regard for strict accuracy 
which the supporters of the work have a right to 
expect. For instance, if it be asked where the failures 
that have occurred in the mission fields of the world 
during the last half century have been recorded, it is not 
easy to obtain an answer. Pick up a hundred mission- 
ary reports and read them over, one after another, and 
it will be very rarely indeed that any mention will be 
found of a failure ; and yet failures have been occur- 
ring all the time. In any great work they must occur, 
in the very nature of the case, and ought to be recorded 
with all fidelity and frankness. . . . It is not con- 
sidered beneficial to the interests of the great societies 
at home to spread anything before the people which 
would discourage givers, or weaken the confidence or 



Introduction 7 

lessen the enthusiasm of the public. So long as this 
spirit is cultivated by the leaders of the movement, 
sharp ajid even hostile criticism may be more or less 
expected. It will never do, in the interest of any 
cause, however good, to call failure success, and to go 
on year after year affirming that the policy which may 
have been adopted is proving all that its friends had 
expected, while, as a matter of fact, it is proving the 
exact contrary. 

' ' The time has fully come for the Church of 
Christ to rectify two mistakes which she has for some 
time been making in connection with this work. In 
the first place, she should resolutely and honestly look 
failure full in the face, and not for a moment shrink 
from it or pretend that she does not know that it 
exists when it is in plain sight before her. It is always 
wise to know the worst, and nothing is ever gained 
by concealing either from ourselves or others actual 
facts as they exist in connection with any work for 
which we are responsible. It will be said, no doubt, 
that there is no real failure in the mission field. Some 
good men affirm that it is impossible for us to say 
that any Christian Avork is, or ever has been, a failure ; 
and we will be told over again for the thousandth 
time that we have nothing to do with the results, that 
it is our duty to work on and let God choose his own 
time for rewarding the labors of his servants ; and 
that success may be so near at hand that what seems 
defeat to-day will change into victory to-morrow. 



8 The Italy Mission 

But all this kind of talk must be set aside as simply 
trifling with grave facts." ^ 

The Bishop could not have written more appropri- 
ately, if he had had the Italy Mission especially in 
view. We agree with him that the policy of con- 
cealment is a mistaken one. The failure to investi- 
gate thoroughly and to learn the real condition of a 
Mission is a still greater mistake. The refusal to 
listen to or to credit any one but the superintendent 
of a Mission is well-nigh willful blindness. If there 
has been failure it is far better to find it out and 
acknowledge it and change the policy. A change of 
administration is not enough. The hindrances to 
success may exist in the system far more than in the 
erroneous judgment of the administrator. A tem- 
porary lack of success may be passed over in silence, 
if more time be necessary to test a certain policy, 
or if the remedy has already been applied and better 
results may reasonably be expected in the future. 
But it is worse than folly to go on for more than 
twenty years, pursuing an erroneous policy and wast- 
ing missionary funds. Concealment of the true state 
of affairs in such a case is almost criminal, and 
often the only way to correct errors of policy and 
of administration is to let the public know them. 

One's estimate of results depends upon one's ideal 
of what constitutes success. There are those who 
are contentedly unsuccessful, whose idea of success is, 

1 Methodist Review of 1891, pp. 869, 877. 



Introduction 9 

as a facetious writer has said, " to find a vacant cliair 
and to sit down in it," who in fact never realize that 
they are accomplishing nothing. Others think them- 
selves and are thought to be successful, if a good deal 
of noise and bustle with the rattle of machinery be 
heard. Others are contented if statistics can be so 
tabulated as to make success apparent to those w^ho 
cannot look back of the reports. Others have achieved 
success, if they have gotten themselves well spoken 
of in the newspapers frequently, notwithstanding the 
suspicious state of any enterprise that needs to be 
puffed so often. Others live on the expectations of 
the future, and with some cheerfulness pursue a 
fruitless policy in hope that something good may 
eventually come out of it. All such ideas of success 
need to be corrected. It is far better to open our 
eyes to the present state of things, and to inquire the 
reason why our efforts have thus far been almost in 
vain. Perhaps we shall hear a voice saying, "Cast 
your nets on the right side of the ship." 

In order to succeed in any enterprise not only 
must means and agents be employed such as will lead 
to the desired results, but the end in view itself must 
be wise and good. It is necessary first of all to 
determine carefully the end sought. Can any one 
tell us what we are working for in Italy ? Is it the 
salvation of individual souls ? Is it the conversion of 
Catholics to Protestantism one by one? Is it the 
reform of the Roman Catholic Church? Is it the 



10 The Italy Mission 

dissemination of gospel light, the moral and religious 
education of the people, leading to disruption from 
Catholicism and the establishment of an independent 
Italian Protestant Church? Is it the building up of 
one out of half a dozen rival evangelical denomina- 
tions, or is it to restore primitive Christianity? It 
may be replied that all these ends are in view. Then 
we inquire, which is the ultimate end, and are all the 
other subordinate ends really contributary to that? 
After these questions have been answered, then it will 
be time to ask whether the means and agents have 
been well selected and wisely used to accomplish our 
purpose. 

Apparent success is sometimes real defeat. Espe- 
cially is this true in the Mission field if quantity be 
sought rather than quality. A shrewd use of money 
will multiply the number of churches and adherents 
that do not long adhere. All the time the Mission 
may be growing weaker and weaker in all that con- 
stitutes a life-giving, victorious church. What Dr. 
Josiah Strong has said of the churches at home may 
also be true of some of our Missions abroad : — 

" Our churches are growing, our missionary oper- 
ations extending, our benefactions swelling, and we 
congratulate ourselves upon our progress ; but we 
have only to continue making the same kind of prog- 
ress long enough, and our destruction is sure." 

As this book is intended to be a discussion of 
some missionary methods, we have thought it best to 



Introduction 11 

use the inductive method and to base our conclusions 
upon facts ascertained. Experience is a reliable though 
soinetimes expensive teacher. Hence the narrative 
form of the discussion. It is to be feared that a priori 
reasonings have prevailed too much in the founding 
and conduct of Missions. It is easy for the generals 
who are "five thousand miles in the rear" to pre- 
scribe what ought to be and must be done. It is 
barely possible that they are not sufficiently informed 
of the real state of the campaign. It is of course 
quite improper to state in public print all the facts 
that the authorities need to knoAV. They would be 
disgraceful to all concerned. It is hoped that the facts 
herein set forth, as well as the arguments founded 
upon them, may be of some service in leading to the 
correction of existino^ evils. 



FOUR AND ONE-HALF YEARS 
IN THE ITALY MISSION 



CHAPTER I 

THE CALL AXD JOURNEY 

" Well, we have a call to the mission field, but it 
is not to Mexico." 

''Where, then?" 

''To Italy." 

" We are ofoino^." 

Such was the salutation and response on a Deceni- 
ber evening in 1887 on entering home after having 
spent the afternoon at a missionary convention. My 
wife had read the letter received from the Bishop, and 
hence the announcement. We were not wholly unpre- 
pared for the call, since the Missionary Secretary had 
informed us a few^ days before, that our appointment 
to a foreign Mission w^as under consideration of the 
authorities and had asked, " Hoav would you like to 
go to Mexico ? " 

"Have not given the matter any consideration," 
was the reply. 

" Well, think of it, and let me know^" 



14 The Italy Mission 

It needed little thought, for we were ready to go 
to Mexico or anywhere else. Indeed this was included 
in the original consecration to the ministry. During 
the ten years spent in the ministry in Maine the entire 
Mission field had been a constant study, and it was a 
delight to collect and present to the people facts and 
statistics to show how the kingdom of God was getting 
on in the world. Every piece of good news and 
encouraging note from foreign fields was hailed as a 
signal of victory. All was taken for face value. We 
had not yet learned to read between the lines. Stand- 
ing on the heights of faith and missionary intelligence 
we cauo^ht the foreo^leams of the advancino^ millennial 
day. It was no irksome task to take the missionary 
collection, going from house to house and from person 
to person and soliciting something to help save the 
world from superstition and sin. Geography became 
a fascinating study. Weeks were spent in making a 
wall-map of Africa, on which was traced every new 
discovery from Livingstone to Stanley, and in imagi- 
nation the whole Dark Continent was cut up by rail- 
roads and dotted with schools and churches. Then 
fancy, impelled by desire and faith, flew over India, 
China, and Japan, and saw the speedy conquest of 
their millions for Christ. The names of missionaries 
in these and other lands were catalogued in our list 
of heroes, and on the frontier circuits of Maine we 
often felt as though we were hanging around the con- 
valescent camp, nursing weak believers, while our 



The Call and Journey 15 

nobler brothers were fighting in the van. Once, how- 
ever, the thought did strike us with some force that 
possibly not all missionary work was confined to 
foreign lands. It was the day we arrived at our first 
$300 circuit and found a letter saying that English 
residents in Chili had pledged $2,400 per annum for 
the support of a missionary and wife to teach and 
preach. The greatness of the financial inducement 
took the glory all out of that call, and the question 
arose whether it Avere not a temptation of the devil 
rather than a providential indication of the divine 
will. Does it not demand more of consecration, self- 
denial, and the missionary spirit to stay at home than 
to go? We concluded that it does, and therefore 
refused the call. 

A sense of unworthiness and of a lack of spiritual 
qualifications always prevented our becoming a candi- 
date for missionary honors. Common grace would do 
for plodders in the home field, but gratia specialissima 
was needed for those who face the dangers and priva- 
tions, the isolation and lonesomeness, the idolatry and 
superstition, the ignorance and vice of foreign lands. 
Who is sufiicient for these things? It was enough for 
ordinary laborers in the Lord's vineyard to work and 
pray, collect money, and help awaken missionary 
enthusiasm. Surely the home work ought not to be 
abandoned, and it was doubtless our duty to bear the 
cross patiently and stay at home. So we reasoned, 
and succeeded in contenting ourselves in inglorious 
freedom from battle-scars. 



16 The Italy Mission 

But when the call came like lightning out of a 
clear sky, we seemed at once to recognize a graciously 
providential preparation in the previous years of 
enthusiastic study. The heart was ready for the 
response. We can not say that we were insensible to 
the honor conferred. The Apostles rejoiced that they 
were counted worthy to suffer shame for the cause of 
Christ, and it may be that the honor of separation 
from home and friends was esteemed as quite equiva- 
lent to that received from the infliction of stripes. 
Certainly it was a discipline not less severe. Some 
fancy that missionaries have great privileges of travel, 
of acquiring stores of knowledge, of learning new 
languages, etc., and these privileges are not to be 
despised, but such attractions fade and shrink into 
small proportions after a few months of separation 
from old friends and religious associations. The 
greater the privation and loss, the greater the honor. 
We remember distinctly to have said in our last 
sermon before departure that no greater honor could 
be conferred upon any one than to be called to the 
foreign mission field, i That person who said that he 
would rather found a mission than a kingdom was 
right, and we sometimes wish he had the privilege of 
attempting it. 

We cite a portion of the Bishop's letter : 

" Dear Brother : Would you like to go to Italy 
as a missionary ? I have been for a long time seeking 
a suitable man to re- enforce our work there ; and you 



The Call and Journey 17 

have been so recominencled to me by a sufficient 
number of competent judges who know you well that I 
am now ready to appoint you if you will consent to go. 

"This appointment is one of the most critically 
important in any of our mission fields anywhere. We 
have bat two Americans in the Italy Conference. 
We greatly need another at once : 

"1. To give the Church the benefit of one more 
intelligent judgment as to plans and methods of work 
in evangelization among Roman Catholics. 

"2. To carry over some more genuine Methodist 
evangelical leaven. 

"3. To aid in establishino^ a theoloo^ical school. 

"4. To stand in any possible gap which may be 
produced by the death or sickness of either of the 
American brethren now there, or by any other cause. 

' ' We must begin to train up native ministers as 
soon as possible. What relation you would have to 
that work, I cannot now say. Doubtless it would be 
best for brethren who know the lano^uao-e to beo^in the 
Avork ; but you have been selected because of your 
supposed competency to aid in it after acquiring the 
language. Your first duty would probably be to learn 
the language, meanwhile informing yourself about the 
situation, and perhaps assisting in the supervision of 
the Mission as Presiding Elder of one out of two or 
three Districts, and in the business affairs of the 
Mission. These matters of detail could easily be 
arranged. 



18 The Italy Mission 

" Of course I need not dwell at all on the oppor- 
tunity of personal development and varied usefulness 
which a residence in Italy would open to you. I am 
informed that you have given considerable study to 
the missionary Avork and are deeply interested in it. 

" Please let me hear from you soon. Take a few 
days for prayer and consultation, if you wish, and 
then let me know how the matter strikes you. 

" May God guide you to a right decision. 
" Yours very truly. 



To this we replied that no time was needed for 
consideration, having reflected upon it ten years or 
more; that while a call to Mexico, India, or China 
would have received an affirmative reply, still the 
Italy Mission presented some special attractions. The 
privilege was asked of completing the Conference year 
in the pastorate, but this was denied, since the needs 
of the Mission were pressing. So in a few weeks we 
said, as we supposed and as in so many cases it proved 
to be, a last farewell to brief and to life-long friends 
and set out for a new land and a new life. 

Our enthusiasm was somewhat chilled at the office 
of the Missionary Society in New York. The Gen- 
eral Secretaries were away. The person in charge 
did not seem to know or care to communicate any- 
thing special concerning Italy or best route of getting 
there. The existence of a Manual of Instructions to 
Missionaries was first revealed to us by its accidental 



The Call and Jourxey 19 

discovery in the library of one of the missionaries in 
Italy. As for salary nothing was ever said about it 
in correspondence or at the office. It was fixed by 
the estimating committee in Italy after our arrival, 
at about twice the amount which our ideas of mis- 
sionary life had led us to expect. We were assured 
that a generous salary was necessary for comfortable 
support. That depends of course upon the style of 
living adopted. This is true, however, that an Amer- 
ican missionary in Italy needs more money to live 
comfortably than would be required to live in the 
same manner in an American city of the same size. 
Foreigners are generally over-charged for everything 
they buy, and their ignorance of the language and 
customs of the people makes economy very difficult. 
To require American missionaries to live on the same 
salaries as native preachers would be a great inequality 
from simply a financial point of view. Their expenses 
are necessarily much greater. To ask a man who is 
worth or is receiving $1,000 at home to serve for 
$500 in a foreign field can only be justified on the 
ground that the Missionary Society is poor, or that 
he should manifest the spirit of self-sacrifice to the 
natives. There are many ways of showing this, but 
the native preachers generally fail to recognize the 
self-denial of the missionary so long as his stipend is 
greater than theirs. 

A word may here be said about traveling expenses. 
The entire bill for transportation of household furni- 



20 The Italy Mission 

ture and books, custom-house expenses, railway and 
steamer fares, hotel expenses, etc., of three persons 
from Maine to Rome was $475. When we afterward 
learned that over $900 were charged to the Missionary 
Society for traveling expenses of a single man from 
Europe to take charge of a church of immigrants in 
America, we concluded that our traveling expenses 
were not exhorbitant. We had raised money by hard 
work for Missions and so felt conscientiously bound 
to economize in every way possible ; he had constantly 
received money from the Society and never exerted 
himself to raise any. As corporations have no souls 
he felt at liberty to spend all he pleased, i.e.^ all he 
could get. But how he succeeded in making his 
traveling expenses more than $900, has always been 
a mystery. He had doubtless studied economy in the 
same school with that Italian preacher who for moving 
expenses of himself and books from Perugia to Melfi, 
a distance of about 250 miles, sent in to the treasurer 
of the Mission an estimate of $500. By close figuring 
he afterward cut it down to half that sum, but when 
only $40 were offered, he indignantly withdrew from 
the ministry, after, however, having dallied in corre- 
spondence and drawn his full pay for two months. 
We may have occasion to speak of him again. 

We sailed from New York to Liverpool February 
11, 1888. We will not weary the reader by a descrip- 
tion of the disagreeable features of the passage. How 
green and beautiful appeared the shores of Ireland. 



The Call and Journey 21 

In London new inspiration Avas gained by listening to 
some of the living prophets and visiting the tombs of 
the dead. To walk through the aisles of Westminster 
and around City Road Chapel, to call to memory the 
lives of the good and great, to look upon the spot 
where Christian heroes had suffered martyrdom, to 
visit shrines rendered sacred by age and historical and 
religious associations, were privileges blessed in their 
influence. 

Paris detained us only for a day of needed rest. 
An all night's ride brought us to Geneva, where we 
had our first coveted glimpse of the Italian Mission. 
Here we had a church of forty or fifty members, 
gathered and organized under the auspices of the 
Scotch Presbyterians. A young student in the Theo- 
logical School of the Swiss Free Church, of Walden- 
sian family, and maintained largely by funds received 
from the Educational Society of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, had served as pastor, and after his grad- 
uation the church concluded to call itself Methodist on 
condition that this pastor remain and the Missionary 
Society pay his salary of $720 and all current 
expenses, minus such contributions as they might 
choose to give. They continued for some time to 
worship in the Swiss National Church built by Italian 
refugees from Venice, in the sixteenth century. The 
forms of worship were all Presbyterian, even to the 
wearing of the ministerial gown in the pulpit. Nobody 
knelt in prayer. There was an audience on Sunday 



22 The Italy Mission 

of about thirty. In the afternoon Ave visited our 
German Mission in a little hall on the hill. Here 
everybody sang and knelt in prayer. The preacher 
talked from the heart and then called on one of the 
older members to lead in prayer. The spirit and 
conduct of the meeting was thoroughly Methodist and 
in striking contrast with the Italian service. Giving 
a church or a congregation a new name does not 
change its character. It might be interesting to note 
that one year later this pastor was transferred to 
America at his own request. When the time of 
departing came, he found that he preferred to remain 
in Geneva. So he persuaded his churcli to abandon 
Methodism, and sent a telegram to the Presiding 
Elder, withdrawing from the ministry and saying that 
the church at Geneva would make itself independent. 
The Presiding Elder and Bishop hastened to the scene 
and persuaded the church to remain in the fold of 
Methodism. The pastor begged that his attempted 
secession sholild not be made known, withdrew his 
withdrawal, and Avent to America, where report says 
that he is doing good service in an Italian Methodist 
church. 

Of course we could not leave Geneva without 
seeing the house where John Calvin lived and the 
church where he preached. Here, then, was born 
the system called by the terrible name of Calvinism, 
that we have learned to shudder at from infancy. We 
stood also over his grave, marked with a very small 



The Call and Journey 23 

stone with simply the initials J. C. The stone is 
amply large and attractive to commemorate the theo- 
logian, but does not do justice to the strength and 
greatness of the reformer. His influence upon large 
bodies of Protestants will live on long after his defunct 
predestinarianism shall have been buried out of sight. 
The Roman Catholics as well as the Unitarians cannot 
forget that he had a part in the burning of Servetus, 
and when persecutions and inquisitions are mentioned^ 
still parade that disgraceful piece of history as a 
counter-argument ao^ainst Protestantism in o-eneral. 
It is sometimes said, and we have heard it recently 
from an eminent speaker wdio ought to know better, - 
that the Roman Catholics would burn the Protestants 
at the stake now if they had the power. We think 
not, not because they have more religion now than 
they had then — they had lots of it then, such as it 
w^as — but because Christian civilization has mightily 
advanced, and its mitigating force is felt in every part 
of Christendom. Thank God, the instruments of 
torture Avill never again be used in defence of any 
form of Christianity. 

The journey from Geneva to Milan was exceed- 
ingly uncomfortable. Through ignorance of the 
language we switched off on the Avrong track at 
Culoz, had to return, wait several hours, and take a 
slow train. The cars were very insuthciently heated, 
and the cold was intensely felt. We intended to 
spend the night at Turin and visit our church there, 



24 The Italy Mission 

but did not arrive till five o'clock in the mornino: and 
so went right on to Milan. We were all sick with 
colds and used up through the weariness of thirty 
hours' travel and lack of sleep. At Milan we were 
entertained by the Presiding Elder of the Northern 
District, whose thoughtful invitation to visit him on 
our way to Rome reached us before sailing from New 
York. How pleasant to sit and talk before the open 
iire ! The Italy Mission was the constant theme. 
Every preacher and every station was photographed, 
of course, from his point of view, and necessarily we 
could but see things as he saw them. The view was 
not captivating, and we were both fully convinced 
that there must be a radical revolution in men and 
methods. Eor our part we have never seen any 
reason for changing that opinion. Indeed, the expe- 
rience of the years since has constantly emphasized it. 
It is easier, however, to criticise the administration 
of another than to see the same faults in one's own. 
A few years' experience as superintendent of the 
Mission might lead us to think that the present con- 
dition of things is almost ideal. 

After two days we moved on toward Rome, the 
seat of the Annual Conference to be held the following 
week. We spent a night at Bologna and heard a 
sermon against suicide by our preacher in charge. 
An audience of fifty or so had been collected by means 
of handbill advertisements of his theme. Our property 
at Bologna consists of a church, a shop, and five 



The Call and Journey 25 

apartments, one of which is used as a parsonage, and 
the rest are rented. The inconie, together with the 
€ontributions of the cono^reoation, ouo-ht to be snffi- 
cient to pay all expenses of the church, including 
pastor's salary, but instead the annual estimates have 
asked from the Missionary Society the pastor's salary 
in full and a large share of the current expenses. 
Until 1891 no account was made in the annual esti- 
mates of the income from these rents. These and 
other rents were used as an incidental fund. 

The preacher in charge at Bologna was an ex-priest, 
Doctor in Philosophy and in Canon and Civil Law. 
Of the merits of his sermon we could not judge. 
About a month later we attended a so-called prayer- 
meeting in this church. The preacher opened with an 
invocation, the phraseology of which was taken from 
the Mass, a thing quite customary in many churches 
in Italy. Then he announced a hymn which was 
sung very slowly and dolefully. Then he read a 
portion of Scriptilre, with brief exposition, and offered 
prayer. Then he expounded another portion of 
Scripture and prayed again. Another hymn. Then 
he expounded and prayed the third time. Another 
hymn and the benediction. No one but the preacher 
had opportunity to say a word. Perhaps experience 
had tauo^ht him that no one in his cono^reo^ation had 
anything to say in a prayer-meeting. The audience 
endured all this patiently. They call anything a good 
meeting which calls together a respectable number of 



26 The Italy Mission 

hearers. As for class-meeting, the thing was entirely 
unknown. They had a Sunday-school, and this was 
the way it came about, as we learned from a member 
of the church and from a subsequent pastor. To 
attract the children a prize was offered every Sunday ; 
it might be a pair of shoes or stockings, a cap, a 
handkerchief, some fruit or confectionery. As a 
prize for every scholar would be rather too expensive, 
a species of lottery was instituted, and the fortunate, 
or unfortunate, one got the prize. A year later the 
successor of this pastor discontinued the practice, and 
immediately the children began to inquire : ' ' Are we 
not to have our prizes ? " ' ' Perhaps at Christmas time, 
but not every Sunday," was the reply. " Then we 
won't come to Sunday-school," they said, and the 
following Sunday not one of the forty children ap- 
peared. There has been no Sunday-school in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Bologna from that 
day to this. 

Next morning we hastened on to Florence, where 
we spent the Sabbath. All its varied attractions were 
overlooked at this time. The only thing of much interest 
to us was the work of the Mission. Our church here 
for several years had had the largest membership of 
any in the Conference, reporting one year, 197. The 
church edifice was built by the Jesuits four centuries 
ago, after Avard converted into a private house, and 
then bought and reconstructed into a church Avith the 
parsonage over it. At this time it had two preachers, 



The Call and Journey 27 

and the audience that Sunday was about sixty persons. 
It struck us at once that a church of that size did not 
need two pastors, especially as there were no outlying 
appointments, but we found that such had been the 
custom in several places, even where the membership 
and audience were much smaller. The work was 
considered too severe for one pastor. How could a 
priest who had been accustomed to have an acolyte 
wait upon him get along without an assistant ? There 
were services two evenings in the week besides Sunday. 
Thus each pastor had one sermon and a so-called 
prayer-meeting or meeting for Bible study each week. 
One of these meetings might have been called a class- 
meeting. To lighten the labors of these two pastors 
they had a Bible woman, paid $240 per year by the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. Her services 
were thought to render pastoral visitation quite un- 
necessary. At any rate, very little of it has ever been 
done in the Italy Mission. One of these pastors 
received a salary of $960 per year and house rent, 
and the other, a single man, received $600. Then 
the organist was paid $60 and the sexton $50. If we 
add the expenses. of gas, fuel, repairs, hymn books, 
insurance and incidentals, we find that to hold an 
average congregation of seventy-five persons in Flor- 
ence the Missionary Society paid out about $2,000 
annually. To be sure the Minutes report an average 
congregation of 150, but we can testify by repeated 
countings during four years that the average was not 



28 The Italy Mission 

more than seventy-live. Some Italians also have a 
fondness of swelling the statistics, and guess at the 
size of the audience without counting. We once 
asked one of the preachers why he did not cut down 
the statistical report for the Minutes to actual facts, 
and he replied : ' ' That would not please the Presid- 
ing Elder." Every preacher in the Italian Mission 
knows that all the authorities on both sides of the ocean 
want to see every year in the Reports an increase of 
members, probationers, conversions, etc., and they are 
accommodatino^ enouo'h to make the desired increase. 
As the state of the Mission as a whole is judged by 
the annual statistical report, so they argue that their 
particular charge will be judged in like manner by 
the superintendent, and this is another motive for 
swelling the statistics. This evil is not confined to 
the Italy Mission, yet owing to certain peculiarities 
in the average Italian character it would be wise to 
make an unusually liberal discount in estimating the 
actual number of members, etc., in that Mission. 

The next day we went on to Rome to be in time 
for the Annual Conference. We were deprived of the 
society of our two pastors during the journey, as they 
preferred to ride in the smoking-car. After getting 
settled in a pension on Via della Croce we sauntered 
out on the Pincian hill to see the Eternal City. His- 
torical recollections come trooping up at every glance. 
The busts of Roman statesmen, scholars and warriors 
during over two thousand years, line the walks of the 



The Call and Journey 29 

public garden. Here is a pillar to the memory of 
Galileo, and the inscription says he was condemned 
for having seen the world move around the sun. 
That could not have been erected before 1871 . Yonder 
is the Capitoline hill and beyond are the ruined 
palaces of the Csesars. In front is the Pantheon, 
and towering in the distance across the Tiber is the 
massive pile of St. Peter's and the Vatican. Here at 
last is the citadel of the hostile forces. Here is the 
center of that huge system of error and superstition 
that we have come so far to spend our life in 
opposing. The might of ancient Rome vanished 
before the presence of our northern barbaric ances- 
tors. Why may not this new and mightier Rome be 
conquered by weapons of Gospel truth ? Not in our 
day to be sure, but it is a great privilege to have even 
a small part in the beginning of the mighty contest. 
Such thought in the midst of such scenes and associ- 
ations inflames enthusiasm. We remember to have 
read something like this in the newspaper corre- 
spondence of transient visitors. The enthusiasm 
wanes with a study of the problem and an attempt 
to solve it. Still we could not help then exclaiming 
with Paul, "As much as in me is, I am ready to 
preach the Gospel to you who are at Rome also." 

Our little church at Piazza Poli has the honor of 
being the first Protestant church built in Rome, and 
ought to be preserved as a historical landmark, if for 
no other reason. It is in the midst of a dense popu- 



30 The Italy Mission 

lation, and it would be difficult to select a better site 
for evangelization. We are therefore sorry to hear 
that it has been sold, in order to realize money with 
Avhich to build a school, church and publishing house 
combined in an aristocratic quarter of the city. This 
is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Have we already 
begun in the Mission field to adopt the policy of 
down-town churches at home? Must we sell the 
edifice in the midst of the poor in order to build in 
the midst of the rich ? It will be said that the church 
was not adapted to the needs of the work. It is true 
rather that the church did not adapt itself to the 
needs of the people. The fact that its membership 
and congregation disappeared Avas not at all due to 
its location, but to the fact that the preacher in 
charge withdrew from us and joined another denomi- 
nation, and his congregation followed him. No 
successful efforts were made to o^ather another cono^re- 
gation. The parsonage connected with this church 
was once called a "palace," but through faulty 
drainage and lack of sun is somewhat damp and by 
some thought unfit to live in. Some slight repairs 
would put both church and parsonage in good con- 
dition. Inside, the church is rather dark and gloomy, 
perhaps the fault of the Italian architect and frescoer. 
Who ever saw a light, airy, cheerful church in Italy? 
The light must be dim in order to be religious. 

Here the Annual Conference assembled March 14, 
1888. The Conference did not impress us by its 



The Call and Journey 31 

devotional spirit. At the lialf-liour morning prayer- 
meeting the leader was generally late, and very few 
members of the Conference were present, or they 
came straggling in after they had finished their chat 
and cigar in front of the church. It struck us as a 
strange spectacle to see fifteen or twenty Methodist 
preachers all smoking at the very door of the church, 
and later in the session we introduced with some 
opposition some vigorous resolutions on the subject of 
temperance, three-fourths of which our interpreter 
failed to translate when they were read to the Con- 
ference. However, the custom was introduced of 
having at each Annual Conference, as in America, a 
report on temperance and against the use of tobacco. 
They always adopt the resolutions and most of them 
continue to drink wine, to use snuff, and to smoke as 
before. 

At this Conference two were admitted into full 
connection and to the question, "Will you wholly 
abstain from the use of tobacco?" responded affirma- 
tively, and were seen smoking on the street the next 
day. By agitation on this subject some members of 
the Conference were afterward induced to abandon 
the use of wine and tobacco, but efforts at reform in 
this direction have been neutralized in part by lax 
interpretations of the Discipline given by some of our 
authorities. 

The most important event of this Conference 
was the trial of one of the Presiding Elders. One 



32 The Italy Mission 

Palmieri, an ex-priest who has now been back and 
forth three times from Romanism to Protestantism^ 
had caused such a disturbance in his station that it 
was thought necessary to suspend him, which action 
developed many heated words and much bad temper. 
Charges were preferred against him by the Presiding 
Elder for unchristian words and tempers, and he 
brought counter-charges for maladministration. The 
trial of the Presiding Elder was ordered first. ' It 
lasted over two days and cost the Missionary Society 
over $100. On one specification it might perhaps be 
alloAved that the Presiding Elder had exceeded the 
strict disciplinary limits of his authority, but the case 
was an urgent one, and in the Mission field it is 
sometimes quite impracticable, if not impossible, to 
use all the red tape of the Discipline. In getting rid 
of unworthy members of Conferences and churches 
there ought to be an easier process than our Disci- 
pline allows. A church trial is no help to Protest-^ 
antism in Italy. It Avas evident from the beginning 
of the trial that a certain faction of the Conference 
was determined to condemn the accused. Seven 
ex-priests voted solidly against him on every one of 
the five specifications, without regard to evidence. 
On one specification the vote was nine for sustaining 
it to eleven against it. The trial was an attempt to 
get rid of a man against whom a portion of the Con- 
ference was prejudiced for other reasons. At the 
conclusion of the trial, in order to save going over 



The Call and Journey 33 

substantially the same ground in the trial of Palmieri, 
we moved that he be requested to withdraw, and after 
some hesitation he did so. He went to one of the 
Presiding Elders and got two hundred francs to pay 
his traveling expenses to and from Conference ; then 
he went to the other and got one hundred francs more 
for the same purpose, not informing him that he had 
already received two hundred francs. After this he 
put in a claim for three months' salary and moving 
expenses of his family, a bill amounting to over one 
thousand francs, and this was paid by the Presiding 
Elder whom he had tried to have expelled from the 
Conference. At the same time he made a so-called 
confession, saying that he had been instigated by the 
other Presiding Elder to bring charges against him. 
We have every reason to believe that this was utterly 
false, as Palmieri before and since proved himself to 
be of worthless character. We never had any doubt 
that he made the so-called confession in order to get 
the thousand francs, but the money was paid, not for 
bribery, but to get Palmieri aivay from the place 
where he was trying to ruin our church by his talk, 
and because it had been the custom for years, that if 
a member of the Conference left our work for any 
cause he should receive a bonus of three months' 
salary. Thus it sometimes happened that after an 
unfaithful minister had done all the damage he could, 
the Missionary Society paid him three months' salary 
in order to get rid of him. It was a grave blunder 
3 



34 The Italy Mission 

to pay the money in this case, and the exceedingly 
unwise policy was afterward changed on our motion 
by a unanimous vote in a certain committee. We 
learn, however, on the best of authority, that as late 
as 1893 two months' salary was paid under circum- 
stances very like those mentioned above. Thus it is 
profitable business for a preacher to ruin his charge 
and then withdraw from the ministry. He draws his 
pay for two or three months without working at all. 
Palmieri went back to the priesthood, where he 
remained less than a year. He again turned Prot- 
estant and was sent by a French Missionary Society 
to Hayti as an evangelist. After his withdrawal from 
our church he wrote a pamphlet against Methodism 
and all its representatives in Italy, in which more 
truth Avas told than was acceptable. It was at first 
thought best by some to bring him to trial before the 
civil court for defamation of some of our ministers, 
but after reflection the process was abandoned and the 
Missionary Society paid the bills incurred. 

The Italian Conference was well characterized by 
one of our bishops when he said it was the greatest 
talking machine he ever saw. Three or four would 
talk at the same time if the President would allow it, 
and sometimes he had to suffer it in spite of his eiforts 
to preserve order. Many seem to have learned the 
diplomatic art of saying nothing in a great many 
words. How easily the '' hellissima lingua " flows from 
the Italian tongue. They seem never to hesitate for 



The Call and Journey 35 

-a word, whether the idea comes or not. They talk 
right on and gesture all over. The facial expressions 
are wonderful. By different shrugs of the shoulders, 
accompanied by movements of the features, they 
express, better than words could do, surprise, doubt, 
uncertainty, ignorance, disdain, wonder, denial, fear, 
helplessness, defiance, pride, and no one knows what 
not. The fingers are worked as dexterously as those 
of a pianist. The Italian speaker is in himself 
a whole school of expression. Words are almost 
unnecessary to convey thought, and are poured forth 
for the simple delight of talking. 

Allusion has been made to the expense of an 
Annual Conference in Italy. Let us compare it with 
the German and Swiss Conferences. The Italian 
preacher travels second-class, except sometimes when 
he travels at his own expense ; the German travels 
third-class. The fare in Italy is paid by the Mis- 
sionary Society ; in Germany and Switzerland it is 
paid by collections taken in the various churches. 
The Italian preacher is allowed ten francs per day in 
the larger cities for hotel expenses and eight francs 
in smaller cities, paid also by the Missionary Society 
from the day he leaves home till his return ; the 
German lodges w^ith the members of the church where 
the Conference is held, often in very humble quarters, 
and all the members dine together, the dinner being 
paid for also by collections made in the churches. 
Thus the Annual Conferences in Germany and Swit- 



36 The Italy Mission 

zerland cost the Missionary Society nothing and are 
a means of grace and good-fellowship. The Annual 
Conference in Italy costs the Missionary Society about 
$800. The members divide, the Bishop and American 
members in one hotel, the ex-priest faction in another, 
the Waldensian element in another, etc. We made a 
proposition at the Conference of 1891 that instead of 
ten francs per day we ask for only six, since excellent 
board could be obtained in pensions for five and six 
francs per day. The proposition was received with 
scorn and insult and voted down by an overwhelming 
majority. It would be very easy to make arrange- 
ments with some pension or hotel to board the entire 
Conference for five francs per day each without Avine. 
Thus $125 would be saved for evangelization, the 
temperance cause would be advanced, and Christian 
fellowship would be cultivated ; or better still, in some 
cities the entire Conference might find lodgings and 
breakfasts in the homes of the people, if they would 
be so humble as to accept such fare, and the other 
meals might be had together as in the German and 
Swiss Conferences. Our German preachers live with 
the poor people and share their hospitality, and the 
poor are not less hospitable than the rich. A Doctor 
of Divinity and Professor in Germany told us how he 
had boarded, as a preacher, with a family where 
there was only one room in the house. It is of no 
use to disguise the facts. Our Italian preachers are 
too proud to associate familiarly with the poor people 



The Call and Joltiney 37 

to whom they preach, and will never do it so long as 
the Missionary Society will - pay their bills at some 
good hotel. This reform is of vital importance. We 
are not advocating a petty scheme to save a few dol- 
lars, but a plan that will bring the preachers and people 
into closer sympathy with one another. In Italy our 
preachers can not reach the rich, and they will not 
mingle with the poor except officially. 



^CHAPTER II 

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE 

Our appointment was that of a Theological 
Instructor, and we were like a cavalier e senza cavallo^ 
or horseman without a horse. It was decided to have 
a Theological School as soon as practicable, but 
where, when or how, no one as yet knew. Our first 
business was to learn the language, and as the 
Tuscan dialect is the purest Italian, we went to 
Florence and committed the blunder of trying to learn 
Italian in an English private family. It is true the 
family had lived in Italy thirty years or more and 
could speak Italian as well as English, but as a matter 
of fact they always spoke English with us. In the 
household we heard a little Italian every day. We 
studied the grammars, dictionaries, newspapers, etc., 
faithfully. We went to every service in the church 
and listened to what we could not understand, doubt- 
ing whether we were doing penance or working on 
the Lord's Day. We had a half-hour's instruction 
every day in the language from a young ex-priest, for 
which we gave him an equivalent of instruction in 
English. Later we began to teach English to a class 
in the Theological School. 



Learning the Language 39 

Now nearly all this was a mistake. That is not 
the way to learn to speak a language. The ear needs 
education more than the eye. To learn a language 
quickly one needs to be where it is heard continually, 
and be obliged to speak it if one speaks at all. He 
should live in a family where that language alone is 
spoken. A single man can do this, and ought to do it 
for the first year or two in Italy, but the two unmarried 
missionaries who followed us to Italy have suffered 
from the same blundering policy of being thrust into the 
Theological School to teach English until they should 
learn Italian. It would be about as easy to learn the 
language in America with a private instructor one 
hour each day. In fact the language of the common 
people can never be learned in a school. We acquired 
some book-knowledge of Italian and mastered a theo- 
logical vocabulary that would do for purposes of 
instruction but was a very inadequate preparation for 
preaching to the common people. 

The Italian lano^uao^e is not difficult to learn. Its 
words are chiefly degenerated Latin and so have 
many analogies with the English language, more than 
half of which comes from the same source. Its con- 
struction is less complex than classical Latin and has 
more analogy to Greek. Its reflexive mode reminds 
one of the middle voice in Greek ; the article is Greek 
rather than Latin ; and very many words are Greek 
Italianized. All this comes from the early settlement 
of Sicily and southern Italy by Greek colonists, and 



40 The Italy Mission 

from the influence of Greek literature. In some parts 
of southern Italy and Sicily dialects are still spoken 
that a modern Greek would understand more readily 
than a Tuscan. The dialect that most resembles the 
ancient Latin is now spoken in the island of Sardinia, 
the original language not having been corrupted by 
the invasion of northern conquerors. The peculiarity 
of this dialect is the termination of the nouns and 
adjectives in u^ the ablative of the fourth declension. 
The contadini or peasants of Piedmont would not 
be able to understand those of southern Italy. All 
educated Italians speak the pure, Tuscan dialect, and 
many who cannot speak it understand it. It is taught 
in all the public schools. Still, for the thorough evan- 
gelization of Italy men are needed who are familiar 
with the various dialects of the people. One might 
evangelize Wales, speaking in English, but the Welsh 
would be far more effective in many communities. 

The pronunciation of Italian is comparatively 
easy. There are no useless letters in any Avord. 
Every vowel and consonant is sounded or serves to 
modify the sound of the following letter. The English 
lano;uao^e has half a dozen or more sounds for some 
of its vowels ; the Italian has an open and a close 
sound for e and o and only one sound for the other 
vowels. The language is strikingly free from guttural 
sounds. It is pronounced " trippingly on the tongue." 
Nobody but a Spaniard can excel the Italian in trill- 
ing the r. They never run the consonants together. 



Learning the Language 41 

A double 1 or double n is sounded like two Ts or two 
n's. The syllable ends almost always in a vowel, 
and the language is thus exceedingly well adapted 
to singing. In English the singer, after prolong- 
ing the note upon the vowel of the syllable, has to 
tack on a consonant or two, or else leave his audience 
in wearisome ignorance of what he is singing. Often 
the sentiment of the song is sacrificed to the harmony 
of sweet but meaningless sounds. The Italian singer 
is not bothered in this way. The meaning of the 
word is all expressed when he gets to the final vowel. 
The Italians can hardly conceive how a word may 
properly end in a consonant. Hence they Italianize 
many foreign words by adding a final i or e. 

It is often said that children will pick up a lan- 
guage more readily than adults, and it is true that by 
mingling with other children they catch the peculiar 
accents and inflections of the voice. The Florentines 
almost chant as they speak, with a constant tendency 
toward the rising inflection. The children make nausic 
of conversation. An adult learner can scarcely imitate 
this. It is not, however, necessary to correct speak- 
ing, and is not heard in many parts of Italy. A child 
acquires quickly a child's vocabulary, and by constant 
chattering learns to speak fluently. He has learned the 
language when he has mastered five hundred words. 
He can express all his ideas with these. An adult 
must often master five thousand words, and he will 
then stammer whenever a new idea strikes him. If 



42 The Italy Mission 

an adult would mingle constantly with children and 
confine himself to their vocabulary, he would learn a 
language, we fancy, more quickly than a child, and 
we have some evidence to prove this. The adult 
ordinarily can not do this, and so has to resort to 
grammars and dictionaries. Especially a reflective and 
not over-talkative person must see the word and fix 
its meaning in the memory before he understands it 
with the ear. One of the best exercises is to read 
aloud from some book not too difficult, taking in with- 
out much eflbrt the general sense and not stopping to 
look up in the lexicon every unknown word. The 
known context will often sua^est the definition of the 
new word encountered. Macaulay used to learn a 
language in three months by reading the New Testa- 
ment in that language, but he had a phenomenal 
memory. For one Avho is familiar with the New 
Testament there is no more helpful exercise than this, 
but if he knows not his English Bible almost by 
heart, he may as well read almost any other Italian 
book. For purity of language and simplicity of style 
as well as for the interesting character of the subject 
matter the student of Italian would do well to read 
Manzoni's Promessi Sposi and De Amici's Cnore. 
Both have been translated into Englisli. Some prefer 
to plunge at once into the Divina Comedia of Dante, 
but soon lose their enthusiasm and fail to appreciate 
its beauties. A child might as well try to learn 
English by reading Chaucer. One should let poetry 
alone till one has mastered prose. 



Learning the Language 43 

To learn a new language in middle life is no small 
task. A person is not aware how much time and effort 
he has spent in learning his mother tongue until he 
tries to speak in another language. It is true that in 
a year one can learn to read and mentally translate a 
new language and use some phrases sufficiently well 
for traveling purposes. Often then he thinks he has 
learned the language, but if he really intends to learn 
it thoroughly and use it effectively in public discourse 
or in writing, two or three years of close study will 
onlv reveal to himself his imorance of the lanraaoe. 
Some of our authorities have amused the Italian 
Conference by attempting to read our ritual service 
after a few weeks' study of the language, and one 
expressed the confident opinion that he could learn 
two or three European languages in a year's time. 
" He jests at scars who never felt a wound." 
The blunders of learners are often very amusing. 
A brother missionary will never forget how at a 
restaurant with Bishop Mallalien we called for pes ci 
instead of pesche and so got fish instead of peaches ; 
nor do we forget how he once complained of mal di 
tasca when he should have said mal di testa. The 
latter phrase means headache, and the former, if it 
means anything, Avould have to be translated pochet- 
ache, perhaps a too frequent malady with the impecu- 
nious. The precise equivalent for an English Avord 
or phrase is often wanting. The Italian has no word 
for home, earnestness, manliness, and many other 



44 The Italy Mission 

words that Americans can not do without. On the 
other hand, they have some fine shades of thought 
that have no equivalent expression in English. Fig- 
urative expressions are the most difficult to translate. 
The figure must be changed and often loses its force. 
Sometimes, however, it loses nothing in the transfer. 
To carry coals to NcAvcastle is to ''carry leaves to 
Valombrosa." A sharper is a cavalier e d^industria^ 
a knight of industry. To express the thought that one 
is lacking in the upper story the Germans have a sim- 
ilar phrase, Ei- ist nicht gauz richtig im oherstubchen^ 
he is not quite right in the little upper room, but the 
Italian saying is better, gli manca il primo volume, he 
lacks the first volume. 

To listen to a strange language with the effort to 
catch its meaning is a necessary practice, but a weari- 
some labor. We go to church as often as possible 
and listen studiously if not devoutly. At first the 
discourse is a queer jumble of unmeaning sounds. 
The words seem all run together. After a little time 
we begin to catch a word here and there, and while 
we are trying to connect it with other words in the 
sentence the speaker goes on and leaves us. Week 
after week we add to our vocabulary and are quite 
encouraged when we can catch every word in a short 
sentence. Then we hear a new speaker and begin to 
doubt whether we shall ever learn the language. 
After many months Ave get the drift of the sermon, 
but miss the finer thoughts and rhetorical embellish- 



Learning the Language 45 

ments. Now at every liearing some new flash of light 
breaks in upon the mind ; we remember new words 
used and run to a lexicon on returning' home. No 
book quite so interesting as the dictionary. We have 
read it by the hour day after day. After a while we 
quite discard the Italian-English dictionary and use 
one wholly Italian. Thus we learn to hear and under- 
stand by constant attention. There seems to be no 
mental rest. Through sheer weariness of listening, 
the attention is often distracted in the midst of a ser- 
mon, and we wander off in reverie. Especially is 
this the case if the preacher has a maximum of words 
with a minimum of ideas. We don't think the Italian 
language is adapted to putting an idea into words 
pithily. The words are too long. A half dozen 
monosyllabic words of English will often state a great 
truth clearly, in a nut- shell. This is not frequent in 
Italian. One must understand words and sentences 
with the ear before one can speak them. Here arises 
the principal difliculty. The adult learner is not 
willing to stumble along like a babe. He wants to 
feel sure of his sentence before he beains. He hesi- 
tates to say even as much as he knows. His own 
voice sounds strana-e to him. The words have not 
the signiiicance of the English equivalent. He has 
not yet learned to think in Italian. His speaking is 
all preceded by mental translation. He does not feel 
sure that he has found the right expression. He 
breaks off his sentence at an unknown word or aoes 



46 



The Italy Mission 



back and corrects liimself. He is specially embar- 
rassed if there is a person listening wlio understands 
both English and Italian. It is so much more pleas- 
ant for all concerned to have the help of an inter- 
preter. As a result, he speaks only when he must, 
or is impelled by the determination to learn Italian at 
all costs. Thus to speak as well as to read and listen 
is a mental strain. Conversation is no recreation 
till after two years of study. The Italian hearer is 
very courteous, in fact too much so for the learner. 
He tells you that your pronunciation is excellent and 
that you speak beautifully. If it suits his argument 
he will tell somebody else that you cannot make your- 
self understood. Still it is quite encouraging to have 
one's stammering utterances received with smiles and 
"hravos^^' and too constant correction would discour- 
age further effort. Happy is he who has a wise and 
faithful teacher. 



CHAPTER III 

ITALIAN METHODISM 

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Florence has 
the largest membership and is, on the whole, we think, 
the best chnrch we have in Italy. It has been estab- 
lished more than fifteen years. Under the eight years' 
pastorate of Rev. Teofilo Gay the present church edifice 
was bought and remodeled, and a membership was 
collected of nearly two hundred. It is true that a 
part of these came from the absorption of a Wesleyan 
church. Its pastor, the Rev. C. Tollis, was led to 
leave the Wesleyans and unite with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and quite naturally his church 
members followed his example. In consequence the 
Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission thought best 
to withdraw from Florence. Brother Tollis became 
the successor of Brother Gay and continued pastor 
three years, when he was succeeded by the Rev. S. 
Y. Ravi. Under both these pastors there was a 
gradual purifying process. There were many unwor- 
thy members. Some had to be encouraged to with- 
draw ; some got disaffected with the pastor and stayed 
away ; others left because of the introduction of novel- 
ties and of a mild and partial enforcement of Methodist 



48 The Italy Mission 

discipline. Some effort was made, especially mider 
the pastorate of Brother Ravi, to make this a Meth- 
odist church. Hitherto it had been simply a Wal- 
densian church with another name. We remember 
to have read a printed notice posted on the inside of 
the church, which read thus : If any one wishes to 
become evangelical, let him give his name to the pastor 
or to one of the consiglieri. This was the name given 
to stcAvards and class-leaders. They are now called 
economi and conduttori di classe. The phrase " become 
evangelical" expresses the too common conception of 
conversion. It denotes an intellectual change of 
opinion or belief. A person who is disgusted with 
the Papacy or with the corruptions of the Roman 
Catholic Church gives his name to the pastor and is 
duly enrolled as a probationer. He does not attend 
class-meeting, because generally there is none. His 
voice is never heard in prayer or testimony. He 
makes no confession of sin and gives no evidence of 
repentance. The necessity of this in his case has 
probably never dawned on him, for has he not been 
properly baptised, and does he not partake of the 
eucharist regularly once a month? In the majority 
of cases he is not asked to contribute anything regu- 
larly for the maintenance of the church. In due time 
he is received into full membership. He attends more 
or less regularly the services. It is frequently the 
case that he cannot, as he thinks, attend the forenoon 
service on Sunday, because he is obliged to work. 



Italian Methodism 49 

He can attend dancing parties and balls if he wishes, 
and no objections are made. He goes to the theatre 
from time to time, as do also some of our pastors. He 
smokes and drinks wine of course. Almost all evan- 
gelical preachers do this in Italy and think total 
abstainers to be fools and fanatics. Wine with them 
takes the place of tea and coffee with us. The poorest 
members can find money enough for wine, tobacco, 
and an occasional visit to the theatre, but are too poor 
to contribute anything to help pay the expenses of the 
church. 

We have said there were no class-meetings. This 
was true up to within a few years, but in several 
stations such a meeting is now maintained. In other 
stations they have the name without the thing. There 
was no such meeting in Florence during the first year 
of our stay except in the Theological School for the 
benefit specially of the students. For nearly two years 
one pastor tried to maintain such a meeting, but did 
not know how to conduct it or lacked the necessary 
enthusiasm. He never really sympathized with the 
Methodist idea of a class-meeting, reasoned that it 
was not adapted to Italy, and during the last year of 
our stay in Florence abandoned the effort altogether. 
The truth is there was not spirituality enough in the 
church to maintain a class-meeting, and the pastor 
did not know how to develop spirituality by means 
of it. The members could not tell their experience, 
because with few exceptions they had not experienced 
4 



50 The Italy Mission 

salvation. The witness of the Spirit they knew 
nothing of experimentally and had rarely heard of it 
theoretically. Yet there were a score or so of devout 
members, constant in their attendance on the means 
of grace, who might have been organized into a pray- 
ing, testifying company. A live church is a witnessing 
church. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh. A Methodist church without a class-meet- 
ing is a dead, cold thing. We did what we could by 
advice, exhortation and example to remedy this defect 
in our church, but lacking authority, our efforts were 
unsuccessful. We are told that at Rome there is a 
class-meeting when the superintendent is there, but 
during his absence in America it Avas abandoned. 
At Milan also the church is said to be organized into 
several classes and in some other stations a beginning 
has been made. Still it can hardly be expected of 
preachers who have not themselves been trained up in 
a class-meeting, that they will establish and well con- 
duct one. 

The prayer-meeting, so called, or by some other 
name, scarcely merits the title. During our stay in 
Florence we heard, at long intervals, six members of 
our church offer prayer. We except of course the 
Faculty and students of the Theological School. 
The prayer-meeting usually consisted of singing, 
reading of scripture, prayer by the pastor and remarks 
by the same. Sometimes the remarks were an expo- 
sition, sometimes a sermon. At the close some one 



Italian Methodism 51 

or two were occasionally called upon to offer prayer 
or say something. All this was in good old Presby- 
terian style, but it was not a Methodist prayer-meeting 
such as we have often attended in our German Mission, 
where all went down on their knees several times and 
a dozen men and women poured out their souls to 
God. Our pews in Italy are generally not made and 
arranged so that the people can kneel if they want to. 
That was not the style of service contemplated. Our 
preachers never kneel in the pulpit when they offer 
prayer, and rarely do so at a prayer-meeting. The 
women almost universally keep silent in the churches. 
Italy has been called the land of song. One 
would naturally expect that the service of the Metho- 
dist Church in such a country would be characterized 
by hearty, joyful singing. Instead, the singing of 
nearly all our congregations is very slow and un- 
spirited. They sometimes make considerable noise, 
but manifest no religious enthusiasm and gladness in 
singing. This is contrary to natural expectation, 
since the Italian is usually lively, and the quite com- 
mon singing on the streets is of a joyful character. 
The explanation is that we have no Methodist hymns. 
The hymn book used in all our churches is that pub- 
lished under the direction of the Waldensian Church. 
Its theology inclines to Calvinism. Its spirit is too 
cold and unemotional for Methodism. It has no 
brisk melodies, and the few hymns that might be 
made to express something of life and power are sung 



52 The Italy Mission 

so slowly as to destroy their vitality. Some transla- 
tions of Sankey's hymns have been made and are used 
to some extent in the Sunday-schools. Our German 
Mission, three years after its beginning, had its own 
Methodist hymn book. It has been improved till now 
it is full of Methodist spirit and doctrine, and our people 
in Germany and Switzerland sing as if they felt the 
sentiment of the songs. Our German song book for 
social service is much used by other denominations 
and even in the State churches. After over twenty 
years in Italy our church has no song book whatever. 
Various reasons may be assigned for this, but the 
principal one is that the mouth of our Italian Meth- 
odism has not been filled Avith singing. We have 
half a dozen or more poets in the Conference ; at 
least they write verses, but their verses are often 
more literary and philosophical than devotional. A 
good religious hymn is the poetical outflow of a heart 
full of divine love, faith, and joy. One can write 
poetry or put abstract thought into the form of verse 
without spiritual qualities. A committee has for 
some time been appointed to publish a Methodist 
hymn book. How this can be done without any 
Methodist hymns it is difficult to understand. A 
committee to paint a picture, to carve a statue, or to 
write an epic would be equally sure of success in the 
undertaking. Hymn books, like poets, are born, not 
made. They may be compiled after the hymns have 
been written and sung and proved helpful to the 



Italian Methodism 53 

spiritual life and work of the eliurch. Nothing better 

can be clone for Italian Methodism just now than to 

secure the translation, bv some poetic Christian, of 

the best hymns of Charles Wesley and other standard 

Methodist authors, together with some of our best 

revival melodies. Some movement was made in this 

direction by the publication of a fine translation of 

Charles Wesley's grand old hymn, 

" Lord, I believe a rest remains, 
To ail thy people known." 

The translation was made by Rev. S. Y. Ravi, 

who added some original hymns, and they were 

frequently sung in our services at Florence with very 

good effect. There is more religious joy expressed 

in his little melody, 

" Venite, gli inni del cuor 
Alziamo al Re dei ?'e," 

sung to the tune, "We're Marching to Zion," than in 

any other hymn we heard sung in Italy. If hymns 

thus written were published with music in our paper, 

the Evangelista^ from time to time, and introduced 

into our congregations, we could, after five years or 

more, make a beginning of a hymn book. At present 

our singing is of but little help to the spiritual growth 

of our members, and of but little if any attractive 

force to the unconverted. 

The process by which our church at Florence 

dwindled down from a membership of two hundred to 

about half that number was as follows : In every 



54 The Italy Mission 

church many are attached to a popular pastor more 
than to Christ, and so fall off when the pastor is 
transferred. This is notably the case in Italy, where 
church ties are so loose. Many can see no reason for 
belonging to one denomination rather than to another 
except some present, personal and material advantage. 
The pay of the Bible woman, whose heaviest act 
of service seems to have been to draw her monthly 
salary, was discontinued. As a consequence, she, 
with all her family and friends she could persuade, 
left our church and said all she could to injure it. 
This followed as the result of a rule without exception 
so far as we know. Whoever has once been in the 
pay of our mission as preacher, Bible woman, janitor, 
organist, etc., and has, for any cause, been dis- 
charged, has become at once a bitter opposer of our 
church, proving thereby that his motive for uniting 
with us was a mercenary one. One of the oldest and 
wealthiest members of the church took to himself a 
Catholic wife without legal marriage. This was 
thought to be contrary to our discipline, and being 
persistently reasoned with by the pastor, the brother 
got angry and withdrew. Some sympathizers fol- 
lowed his example. One official member assigned as 
a reason for his withdrawal the fact that the pastor 
preached a sermon in which he denied the doctrine of 
unconditional election. Another objected that the 
pastor taught the necessity of secret and family 
prayer. He, however, was persuaded of the error of 



Italian Methodism 55 

his ways, got converted and remained with us. Two 
other officials assigned in the Quarterly Conference, as 
a nominal reason for their withdrawal, the fact that 
there was published in our paper a translation without 
comment of Bishop Hamlin's experience of conversion 
and baptism by the spirit. They could not, they said, 
remain in a church that taught such fanaticism. 
Others objected that the new pastor sometimes knelt 
in prayer in the prayer-meetings, and several Avith- 
drew because a communion rail was introduced into 
the church. Up to 1888, there was scarcely an altar 
rail in any of our churches and no altar service. 
The Lord's Supper was received by the communicants 
standing, after the Waldensian style. It was thought 
at first by some that the introduction of a communion 
rail with invitation to kneel, if any one so wished, at 
the Lord's table, would utterly break up our churches. 
For some it bordered too closely upon the adoration of 
the host in the Roman Catholic Church. Some had 
such an antipathy to Roman Catholicism that they did 
not like to see in a Protestant Church anything that 
resembled the forms and ceremonies they had turned 
their backs upon. They forgot the scriptural injunc- 
tion, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is 
good." Of course they were not told that a part of the 
ritual service of our discipline is the same as that still 
used in the service of the mass, else they would have 
objected to that also. As one was in Italian and the 
other in Latin, perhaps the difference was sufficiently 



56 The Italy Mission 

great to suit the most fastidious. As to the posture 
of the body in the reception of the Lord's Supper, 
they Avere told tliat the laity in the Roman Catholic 
Church receive the wafer kneeling, the priests sitting, 
and the Pope alone standing, and so they must not 
insist upon the standing posture unless they wish to 
imitate his Holiness Leo XIII. The posture of the 
body is of little importance so long as there is no 
imposture, yet every denomination has its forms of 
worship and it is well to adhere to them. The objec- 
tions of the vast majority were overcome, the com- 
munion rail is now seen in the most of our churches 
and, with few exceptions, our members now receive 
the sacrament kneeling. 

Thus for various reasons our membership in 
Florence has been reduced to half what it once was, 
and ought still to be divided by two, cutting off the 
quotient and remainder. About fifty members may 
from time to time be seen at our church services. 
Common honesty, as well as the spiritual welfare 
of the churches, demands a thorough purging of the 
registers. We once asked the pastor of a certain 
church why he did not correct the records and report 
only actual members to be found. He replied that 
that would not please certain authorities. We asked 
the pastor of our church at Pontedera how many of 
his fifty-four members gave evidence of conversion. 
He counted them up on his fingers and replied, " Four 
or ^ve,'' In this place and in Modena our membership 



Italian Methodism 57 

consists principally of S^viss who, having been trained 
up from infancy in the State Church of Switzerland 
and having removed to Italy, have entered our church 
by letter of transfer without, in the majority of cases, 
giving any evidence of conversion. We maintain a 
mission in Switzerland to convert these members of 
the National Church. It is therefore a little singular 
that they make acceptable Methodists in Italy without 
conversion. It should be added that though some of 
them are well to do financially they contribute next to 
nothing for the support of our church. They have 
not been accustomed to that way of supporting a 
church. It is really a financial gain for them to unite 
with our church in Italy. They get the service of the 
pastor gratuitously in case of baptism, sickness, death 
and marriage. Who has heard of a Methodist min- 
ister in Italy who ever received a marriage fee ? The 
happy couple Avould sooner expect a present from him. 



CHAPTER IV 

STARTING A THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL 

After seventeen years of experiment in Italy our 
Missionary Society became convinced of the necessity 
of training our own preachers, if we intend to estab- 
lish Methodism in that land. In 1873 Rev. F. A. 
Spencer was sent to Italy and attempted to establish 
a school, but the next year was recalled because, as 
Dr. Reid says in his Missions and Missionary Society 
of the M. E, Churchy ''it became apparent to the 
Board and Bishop that a native ministry of truly 
Methodistic type could be formed, and that only faith- 
ful superintendence would, for some years to come, be 
required." If this had only "become apparent" one 
year earlier, it would have saved much trouble and 
expense. It is singular that a feeble attempt of one 
year should have so wonderfully opened the eyes of 
the Board and Bishop. Perhaps the whole truth of 
that story has not yet been revealed to the public. 
With this slight exception the policy and practice 
from the first has been to choose our preachers mainly 
from two elements, viz., ex-priests and ex-Walden- 
sians. There is a heterooreneous remainder that 



Starting a Theological School 59 

comes from other denominations and is picked up 
at random. Not one of our preachers up to 1892 had 
been trained in a Methodist Episcopal Church, not to 
say in " one of our schools." The priesthood and 
other denominations have furnished us preachers. 
Not more than three of our preachers have been con- 
verted under the auspices of our Church. When we 
arrived in Italy the ex-priests numbered ten, and those 
who had been trained in Waldensian schools and 
churches, eight. Some changes have been made for 
the better, some for the worse, but the proportion 
remains about the same. On the whole all that we 
have gained by subtraction we have lost by addition. 
Our preachers are certainly not so able a body as that 
which existed six years ago, and many reasons con- 
vince us that they are not more pious and devoted 
to the upbuilding of Methodism. Within two years 
several of the best have left our ministry in Italy. 

All our authorities became at last convinced that 
a Methodist church could not be established by 
means of such preachers. The experiment of util- 
izing ex-priests had been tried and had failed in 
Mexico and South America. One who had been a 
missionary of our church in Mexico thirteen years 
told us that it was found necessary to get rid of all 
the ex-priests and that only two of all that have been 
employed in the Mexican Mission have ever done our 
cause any good. Our German Mission has never 
employed an ex-priest or an ex-Lutheran preacher, 



60 The Italy Mission 

but has first converted and then trained its own 
preachers. This accounts largely for our great suc- 
cess in Germany and Switzerland. Some priests are 
ex necessarily. They have quarreled with their 
superiors, or been guilty of some immorality, or they 
want more salary or to get married. We received 
many letters from priests who wanted to leave the 
priesthood if they could be received into our school or 
conference. Usually they are careful to provide for 
future employment before their conscientious scruples 
force them out of the priesthood. There are thousands 
of young priests in Italy who would abandon the 
Roman Catholic Church if they could find desirable 
employment elsewhere. The men like Gavazzi, 
De Sanctis, and others who have come out from the 
Roman Catholic Church, sacrificing position, suffering 
persecution, not knowing whither they went, are few. 
There are some, however, and we honor such, but they 
do not make good Methodist preachers for the simple 
reason that they know nothing about Methodism, 
and when it is explained to them, they either do not 
understand it or they do not like it. But Methodism 
can not be explained or taught by definition. It is a 
living thing. It is learned by illustration, by contact. 
It must be caught like the measles. The only way to 
establish Methodism in Italy is to introduce it, to 
send over Methodists enough to make an impression 
on some persons or communities, and then it will 
spread of itself. Life is communicated from life. 



Starting a Theological School 61 

We have seventeen Methodist missionaries in Catholic 
Mexico. For a long time we had only one in Italy 
and now we have but five. We recall the remark 
made by Bishop Mallalien when in Italy : ' ' If I had 
my way, I would send over seventeen Methodist 
preachers at once." 

The ex-priests, then, on the whole, have done us 
very little good and very much harm. Some have 
disgraced the ministry and returned to Roman Cathol- 
icism. It is very hard to erase the Jesuitical marks 
of the priesthood. A character truly indeleble is 
stamped upon them. Once a priest always a priest, 
is a saying that holds good in general. The Italians 
say a priest has seven skins ; you must flay him seven 
times before you will find the new man. Frete via 
jpretefaprete. There ought to be established in Italy a 
ricovero or industrial home for the priests, where they 
might learn a trade or fit themselves for some employ- 
ment. The assumption that because they have studied 
Catholic theology they are already qualified for the 
evanofelical ministrv is one of the oTcatest blunders. 
In many cases they know almost nothing of the 
Bible. They know far more of the traditions of the 
Fathers and of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. 
Moreover they are filled with the idea of priestly 
domination. They are the superiors of the people. 
They must be reverenced and obeyed by their flock. 
They stand on dignity too much and cannot condescend 
to mingle socially with laboring people. With them 



62 The Italy Mission 

religious service is too perfunctory. When they have 
held so many services weekly their work is done. 
They are prompt at all services such as they have 
been familiar with in the Eoman Catholic Church, to 
visit the sick, watch over the dying, bury the dead, 
administer baptism and the eucharist, and solemnize 
marriages. They still attach great importance to 
external institutions, but the spiritual condition of 
their flock and the salvation of sinners give them little 
concern. It is worthy of notice that a man like 
Gavazzi, eloquent and magnetic, a born orator, who 
could hold a political audience of thousands and charm 
and persuade them by his magic utterance, could not 
gather a respectable number to hear him preach, and 
was, as a pastor, a failure. We wish this matter 
might be laid seriously to heart by our own and other 
Churches, that genuine Protestantism cannot be built 
up in Italy or elsewhere by means of ex-priests. 

The Waldensian element of our Italian Conference 
consists of preachers who, for various reasons, could 
not obtain a pastorate in the Waldensian Church, or 
have not wished to accept such pastorate as was offered. 
Some have not been sufficiently educated in the schools 
of that Church. This element of our Conference is 
much superior to the one above mentioned. They 
have never disgraced our ministry by immoralities. 
They have, as a rule, more sympathy with the com- 
mon people. They are more spiritual and less addicted 
to plots and scheming. Still they are simply Wal- 



Starting a Theological School 63 

densians Avitli the name Methodist, and Avhile they 
may be very excellent Waldensians, they are, for the 
most part, very poor Methodists. They retain the 
spirit and forms of the mother Church, and, we think, 
still respect and love that Church more than our own, 
for which we cannot blame them. They have not 
been converted and trained up by our Church. They 
have simply been employed to serve us as best they 
can. We wish to cast no reflections upon the Walden- 
sian Church as such. It has a history of which they 
are justly proud. They are doing a good work. The 
best men we met in Italy were the Waldensian pastors 
and professors in Florence. But the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church is not in Italy for the purpose of estab- 
lishing another Church just like the Waldensian. If 
that were true, it would be far better to give them our 
money and retire from the field. Thus far we have 
simply a poor and feeble imitation of Waldensianism, 
and any careful and candid observer can but prefer 
the original article. 

Reasons similar to these may have convinced our 
authorities of the necessity of training up some 
Methodist preachers. Hence, we must have a Theo- 
logical School, and some thought that it could be 
established at any moment without any preparation 
therefor. We are sorry to add that such counsels pre- 
vailed. Now, for a Theological School, two elements 
are absolutely necessary, professors and students, 
and the character of the school will depend upon the 



^* The Italy Mission 

character of these two elements. Both need to be 
sought and prepared with equal care. Unexperienced 
and incompetent professors may make many blunders, 
and unconverted and immoral students may ruin the 
school. The writer of this, when he first arrived in 
Italy, urgently asked to be made a presiding elder for 
two years. This would give him opportunity to learn 
the language, study the situation and needs of our 
Church, and find students with whom to commence 
the school. Such a course seemed to be a temporary 
necessity. He urged in vain a delay in order to 
thorough preparation. The objection was made that 
such an appointment would defer the opening of the 
school. It is true that the school was an urgent 
necessity, still we needed to make haste slowly in 
this case. Proper preparation should have been 
made many years earlier, or the school should have 
been indefinitely postponed. 

Our school for the training of native preachers 
opened January 1, 1889, ten months after our arrival 
m Italy. The Faculty consisted of the Presiding 
Elder as instructor in Pastoral Theology, Homiletics"^ 
and Ecclesiastical History. He had also the duties 
of treasurer of the Mission, with a large correspond- 
ence. He was necessarily absent from the school a 
large part of the time. A young ex-priest, just 
received on trial in the coifference, and assistant pastor 
of the church in Florence, gave some instruction in the 
Italian language and literature, and as for ourselves, 



Starting a Theologicax School 65 

we could do notliiiig else than teach English. It 
was wisely thought that the students should learn this 
lano^uao^e in order to ^rive them access to Protestant 
literature in general and to Methodist literature in 
particular, since there is very little of either published 
in Italian. As we conducted the correspondence of 
the school, Ave were addressed as Direttore^ and the 
title stuck to us in succeeding Conference appoint- 
ments. However, during the first year we had little 
to do with choosing the students or directing the 
affairs of the school, not yet knowing the language 
sufficiently. 

A house consisting of three floors was rented at 
No. 24 Via Lorenzo il Magnifico, Florence. The 
school was on the ground floor, and the professors 
lived above. It became known throughout the Con- 
ference that a Theological School was to be estab- 
lished, and applications for admission fairly poured 
in. Sixty-five applicants wrote to us in the course of 
three years. There is no difficulty as to quantity or 
number of students. We could have a dozen Theo- 
logical Schools in Italy if we were not too particular 
as to the quality of persons admitted and the Mis- 
sionary Society would pay all their expenses. The 
principal attraction of the school was its gratuitous- 
ness. It is hard for young men in Italy to find 
employment. Many of these had just as lief preach 
as not, if they are well paid for it, and when to the 
prospect of a lucrative position in the near future is 

5 



66 The Italy Mission 

added the inducement of entire support during the 
three years of preparation, the Theological School 
becomes an Eldorado to many an impecunious young 
man in America as well as in Italy. It is to be feared 
that the increase of pecuniary aid to theological stu- 
dents in America is injuring the quality of candidates 
for the ministry. Certain religious journals have 
been lamenting that men of inferior abilities and too 
little piety are seeking admission to our Theological 
Schools and pastorates. Is not the cause of this to 
be found in the too great financial aids and induce- 
ments held out ? Poor young men do succeed in fitting 
themselves for the practice of law and of medicine 
without the assistance of educational societies, and by 
so doing develop pluck and perseverance enough to 
make themselves worth something in their profession. 
A young man called of God can work his own way 
through a Theological School in most cases. There 
is such a thing as helping him to death. It is a dan- 
gerous thing to give money to a young, able-bodied 
man-. It develops a selfish and dependent spirit, and 
the offer of financial inducements attracts such persons. 
Our educational societies have done wisely to change 
the old policy, and they no longer give aid to students, 
but loan small sums on easy terms. We have been told 
by the Superintendent of our South American Mission 
that all the theological students are required to give 
notes for all the money expended on their education 
and to pay the same after some years of service in the 



Starting a Theological School 67 

ministiy. We are not yet fully convinced that this 
plan would do for Italy at present. Doubtless plenty 
of young men could be found ready to give their 
note for any sum, the greater the better, but the 
collection of the same might occasion some incon- 
venience. 

However, we had to have students in order to start 
a school, and as none rich and unselfish enough to pay 
their own expenses offered themselves, we had to hold 
out inducements. All who wrote told the same story. 
They were absolutely penniless. Only one of all the 
sixty-five felt able to do so much as clothe himself. 
The rest wanted board, clothes, books, lights, fuel, 
washing, tuition, and even railroad expenses. Indeed 
all their needs and wants must be satisfied by the 
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
that is generally supposed in Italy to possess immense 
wealth and to be another Propaganda similar to 
that of Rome. Some with family asked to be sup- 
plied with a furnished house outside the school and 
a salary of 30Q francs per month. More than one 
wanted to know if he could be assigned to a pastorate 
after remaining a year in the school. At first, money 
to pay traveling expenses to Florence was sent to 
accepted candidates. Enough was sent to purchase 
a second-class ticket, since it was considered a humilia- 
tion for a minister, even m embryo^ to ride third-class. 
The result was that the hopeful candidates bought 
third-class tickets and put the balance in their pockets. 



68 The Italy Mission 

and soon one to whom we had sent money for railroad 
fare, failed either to appear or to refund the money. 
After this we concluded that if we could not find 
young men in Italy of pluck and devotion enough to 
get to Florence without pecuniary aid, we had better 
not have any Theological School. The candidates 
continued to ask for traveling expenses, but when 
refused they found no insuperable obstacle in their 
way. 

For six months the experiment was tried of grant- 
ing to the students an allowance of fifty francs each 
per month and letting them provide for themselves. 
They had their boarding club in the basement of the 
building. A man and wife of middle age served as 
janitor and cook, and she was in some sense a mother 
to the students. In fact she wanted to be too motherly. 
She soon arranged a correspondence and exchange of 
photographs between one young fellow and her daughter 
in Rome. Then the daughter resigned her position 
as teacher at Rome and came to Florence. Then the 
young man was utterly distracted, could no longer 
study or obey the rules of the school, manifested 
much deceitfulness and untruthfulness, and finally 
got insolent and angry and had to be ejected from 
the school. Ere this the janitor and wife had de- 
parted. He had a way of getting drunk that we did 
not quite like. She was constantly complaining 
against the students, and they were dissatisfied with 
her. The food was not sufiiciently good nor abundant 



Starting a Theological School 69 

to suit anybody. The talk and manners at the table 
were not edifying. After six months the boarding 
club was discontinued, and for a year all the students 
sat at my table and shared the same food with my 
family ; still they were not happy, as we shall see 
further on. 

It might be interesting to know more particularly 
the j3erso7i?2e^ of that first class in the school in order 
to get a little insight into Italian character. ThQ first 
young man admitted, as we afterward learned, had 
been expelled from a Roman Catholic seminary for 
vagabondage. He professed conversion and united 
with our church at Turin. He was warmly recom- 
mended by the pastor and had been employed by the 
Presiding Elder about a year as assistant pastor at 
Milan and elsewhere. At Milan he was also Presi- 
dent of the Young Men's Christian Association and is 
said to have left the city with some of the funds of 
that society in his pocket. How the heart sunk at 
the first sight of him ! Fraud was written all over 
his countenance. He was about the plainest specimen 
of a rascal that we ever had anything to do with. 
He could pray and exhort with what passes for 
"unction" with some. The tone was well rounded 
but holloAv. The words were fluent and abundant but 
empty. Dr. Buckley happened to visit us at that 
time, and at almost first glance he said, "You had 
better get rid of that young man." We had already 
come to be of his opinion. We dismissed him after 



70 The Italy Mission 

six weeks of trial. By cheating and borrowing from 
other students he succeeded in taking away with him 
about one hundred francs. Lying and swearing were 
his daily pastime. We gave him money enough to 
pay his fare to Turin and accompanied him to the 
train. In a few days he turned up again in Florence, 
dressed in new clothes, and one night shortly after in 
a state of intoxication saluted us on the street. He 
went back to the Roman Catholic Church, and after a 
year or so was again expelled. Then he had the 
impudence to come and beg at our door, and under 
the plea of a persecuted Evangelical he solicited money 
from all the pastors in the city. This is a common 
trick. Lots of mendicants go about Italy with a cer- 
tificate in their pocket that they belong to some 
evangelical church. Some such beggars have called 
upon us, wearing kid gloves and cane. It is an 
exceedingly poor young man in Italy who can not 
afford these luxuries. 

The next to come and go was a yoimg Austrian, 
a music teacher from Bologna, where he had played 
the organ in our church for some time. He Avas 
recommended by the pastor and wife as '' tanto huono^'' 
so good. He had wasted his substance and well-nigh 
his body in riotous living. He looked half starved. 
He could wear quite a meek and devout look and 
could almost cry at will. But he would lie and break 
the rules of the school. He had to be dismissed for 
general worthlessness. After seeking employment 



Starting a Theological School 71 

some months in Florence and Milan he was arrested 
for vagrancy, escorted across the frontier into Austria^ 
and told not to return to Italy. He then wrote us 
that if we did not send him at once five hundred 
francs, he would throw such a bomb into the Metho- 
dist camp as Avould utterly ruin our school and Church 
in Italy. The dynamite was to be in the shape of a 
newspaper article. After two weeks another letter 
of similar import arrived. Since then we have not 
heard from him. 

The third was a young student from Naples who 
came to us with a tale of persecution on the part of 
his family because he had become a Protestant. His 
father had taken from him all his books and nearly 
all his clothing, so that he was in a quite destitute 
state. We took pity on him and bought him a new 
suit of clothes, whereat his humility vanished. He 
loved to put on that suit, leave one corner of the 
handkerchief sticking out of the breast pocket, and 
sally forth to meet his lady love, whose acquaintance 
he made during his four or ^ye weeks of stay with 
us. One day other students told us that he was 
stealing books from the school library to sell at the 
second-hand bookstore. One night he missed that 
suit of clothes from his room and came up much 
excited and demanded it. He was told to take what 
he had and start for Naples the next morning. He 
declared at first with much bluster that he would kill 
everybody in the house, if that suit were not imme- 



72 The Italy Mission 

diately given back to him. Failing in this mode of 
persuasion, he shed forth quite an effusion of crocodile 
tears and said, '' How can I disgrace myself and 
family by returning home in these old clothes?" A 
year later he wrote asking to be re-admitted to the 
school, promising to be very ^good and study hard. 
We think he was still cherishing the hope of recover- 
ing that suit of clothes. 

Number four had been a stiulent in the school of 
the Free Church at Rome, and was dismissed because 
of impertinence, disobedience, and general unrelia- 
bility. He was recommended by one of our pastors 
on the score of personal friendship. The Presiding 
Elder had heard him preacli and was quite captivated 
bv his readiness of utterance and apparent earnestness. 
So the testimony of a most respectable authority in 
the Free Church was set aside as a prejudiced state- 
ment and, in opposition to our expressed wishes, he 
was received into our school. He proved himself to 
be untrustworthy, broke his promises repeatedly, and 
finally was suspended in hope that the discipline of 
earning his own living for a while might reform him. 
To the surprise of the Facidty of the school, he was 
at once employed as a teacher and assistant pastor in 
our church. Subsequently two or three other cases 
under discipline were treated in a similar way. After 
six months he entered the army, leaving several debts 
behind him. Here he continued his habit of borrow- 
ing money on any pretext without any intention or 



Staktin(, a Thkologtoal School 73 

possibility of repaying. lie, too, hail beeomo engaged, 
but when the fidimzata refused t(^ send hin\ thirty 
franes, the enaaiiement was broken. 

The next was the son of a AVesh\van preaeher. 
His father was determined to make a minister of him, 
though the son had no ability or desire to preaeh. 
He was twenty-tive years old, had never tried to 
preaeh, but supposed that after passing through a 
Theological School it would be very easy to do so. 
He could not learn if he would, and he would not 
study any how. Frequently his head ached till the 
lessons of the day were over, when he would arise 
from bed, eat heartily, and go out tor a walk. We 
had to semi liim away. How his fond lather plead 
Avith us to make a minister of his boy ! He even 
went so far as to otier to pay his expenses in the 
school. It was of no use. The youth lacked gifts, 
grace, and usefulness. We could not evcdve what 
had not been involved. 

The sixth, as we afterward learned, had been dis- 
missed from tlu^ Thecdogical School in (Geneva, as 
unworthy of the ministry. General worthlessness 
seemed to be his complaint, with a marked tendency to 
deceitfulness. We became convinced that he lacked 
energy and religious character, and after two nuuiths 
Ave Imd to advise him to leave. His father seems to 
have given him up as a hopel4?ss case. The young 
man enlisted in the army for lack oi^ something better 
to do. 



74 The Italy Mission 

The seventh we have already alluded to as the young 
man of nineteen summers who preferred to give up 
the ministry rather than break off secret associations 
with a pretty girl and attend to his studies. He 
married, struggled with poverty several yeaas, tried 
to find employment with other denominations as col- 
porteur, and at last account was emplv5yed as preacher 
in charge of our church in a large city. We pre- 
sume this was an act of charity (toward him, not 
toward the church) . To find a place for impecunious 
young men seems to be a part of the policy of the 
administration. This is all very well so long as 
unsuitable persons are not put into the ministry. 

The eighth was with us about a year and then 
was called prematurely into the ministry. His heart 
was impulsively good, but he lacked stability of charac- 
ter. He was a poor scholar and could say all he knew 
in a very few noisy sermons. As a colporteur he 
might be very successful. He can never be a leader 
of men, nor has he the wisdom and ability to be a 
preacher in charge. 

The ninth student of the first year's class finished 
his course of study and is at present the sole graduate 
of our school, though six who were for a shorter or 
longer time students with us are now trying to preach. 
Whether our labors with these have been spent in 
vain the future will determine. 

Thus were spent about $4,000 in trying to develop 
preachers out of young men who had given no evidence 



Starting a Theological School 75 

whatever that they were called of God to the ministry. 
We disclaim all responsibility for this. Our advice 
to postpone the opening of the school was rejected. 
Several students were admitted against our protest. 
We had not had opportunity to study the Italian lan- 
guage and character. We simply obeyed the wishes 

. of superiors in office, protesting as mildly as was 
possible. It w^as argued that we must have a certain 
number of students in order to make a respectable 
report to the church in America, and we must take 
such material as was available. We were trying to 
raise a ministry on the hot-house principle, by forced 
growth. In subsequent years we used more caution 
in the selection of candidates, though every year one 
or two had to be dismissed after trial as worthless and 
hopeless. Still false principles were at the founda- 
tion of our work and vitiated all results, as we shall 
show in a subsequent chapter. After all that has 
been said, it was better to experiment with these 
young men in the school than in the Conference, and 
it would have been w^iser still not to have experimented 

/^t all with the most of them. 

The proper method to have pursued has already 
been hinted at. It finds an illustration in the history 
of our German Mission. At first, Dr. Nippert, one 
of the founders of the Mission, took two or three 
young men into his home and gave them some instruc- 
tion and more practice. They had previously given 
evidence of their conversion and call to the ministry. 



76 The Italy Mission 

The number of students slowly increased till, after 
forty years, we have at Frankfort-on-the-Main a 
Theological School of twenty-seven students. All 
these have been required to serve as assistant preach- 
ers on a large circuit before being admitted to the 
school. The salary for the year before entering the 
school and for at least two years after leaving it, is 
$125 per annum. The students are men and not 
boys, consecrated servants of the Lord, and not hire- 
lings. The financial system is such as to develop the 
spirit of self-sacrifice, while in Italy it is such as to 
destroy it, if it had previously existed. The board 
of the students in the school and half the salaries of 
the professors are paid by voluntary contributions 
made in the churches of our German and Swiss Con- 
ferences. 



CHAPTER V 

CONFERENCE AT MILAN 

After trying for some years, with poor success, to 
o^ather a cono^reo^ation and found a Church in a little 
out-of-the-way room in Milan, it was decided to build 
a church. It cost, including land, about $30,000, 
and is good so far as it goes, but is not half big 
enough. There are seats for one hundred and fifty 
persons, and with chairs two hundred can be accom- 
modated. Now such a Church can never become 
self-supporting in a large city. If it were composed 
of families of average wealth, the contributions would 
not be enough to support the pastor and pay current 
expenses. But in Italy our members are poor, and 
the most that this church full at Milan can now do is 
to pay its current expenses. The pastor's salary and 
traveling and moving expenses are paid by the Mis- 
sionary Society. It is a great mistake to build a little 
church in a great city. It takes a crowd to draw a 
crowd. We have not a church in Italy half large 
enough, and many of our services are held in little 
seven-by-nine rooms, where only a handful of hearers 
can be accommodated. It is true that the church and 



78 The Italy Mission 

the room are generally less than half full, but this 
is usually the fault of the preacher, or of his prede- 
cessor. 

The church at Milan was dedicated during the 
week of the Conference. Both Church and Confer- 
ence were novelties in that city, and so the passing 
crowd dropped in to hear the services. Every evening 
as many Avere present as could be packed in. It was 
a splendid opportunity to inaugurate a new dispensa- 
tion, and an attempt was made. The Italian Confer- 
ence had never seen an altar service. To invite 
sinners to come forward or to arise for prayer was a 
strange and revolutionary thing. At Florence, a few 
months before, Bishop Mallalieu had invited the Church 
to a service of consecration at the altar with good 
results. To him, Ave think, is due the honor of hold- 
ing the first altar service in Italy. Such services 
have occasionally been held in Florence since. 

The first night of the Conference the Presiding 
Elder exhorted well after the sermon, and to the sur- 
prise of nearly all ten men came forward and kneeled 
at the altar. One or two of the youngest seemed to 
have but little realization of the significance of the 
act, but the majority were serious and wanted instruc- 
tion and spiritual help. One was an old man of 
sixty years. We prayed and talked with them, and 
urged them to seek the witness of the Spirit. But 
the most of the members of the Italian Conference 
were scandalized, and one declared that if that service 



Conference at Milan 79 

were repeated the following night he would leave the 
Church. The next night sinners were asked simply 
to rise for prayer, and thirteen arose. The next 
night no invitation was given at all. We have seen 
no altar service at any Conference since. " This won't 
do in Italy," they said. '' Your American ways of 
doino; can't be introduced here." This is their con- 
stant cry. Anything that they have not known from 
childhood is an innovation and must be disastrous. 
Methods that have proved successful in almost every 
part of the world will not do for Italy. The Italians 
are a peculiar people, you know, and we must not 
run against their prejudices. If we try to introduce 
methods successful elsewhere, then the cry is raised 
that we are trying to Americanize the Italians. All 
this is only the expression of unbelief and lack of 
earnestness in the salvation of sinners. He who 
grumbles about methods of doing a thing usually does 
not want the thing done any how. If he did, he 
would try all possible methods, and then repeat the 
one that was successful. What we need in Italy is 
backbone and faith enough to press the use of methods 
that have proved so successful elsewhere, whether the 
preachers like them or not, and if they will not learn 
and adopt the methods of Methodism, or invent better 
ones, let them leave us and go their way. Instead 
of our preachers in Italy being directed, they have 
gradually and perhaps unconsciously been allowed to 
direct the Americans sent over to superintend them. 



80 The Italy Mission 

That experience at Milan has often come to naind. 
The Lord honored our little faith, and set before ns 
an open door to success. We ought to have seen one 
hundred souls converted during that Conference week. 
By making everything else subordinate to that one 
issue it could have been done, and such a revival 
would have revolutionized our work in Italy. Our 
preachers have no idea of a revival. Such a thing 
has not been known in Italy. They have the word 
risveglio^ which more properly means awakening. 
The religious papers often speak of such awakenings 
here and there, but they usually mean nothing more 
than an increased attendance at the services of the 
church. It does not mean that anybody has been 
converted, though perhaps a few have given their 
names to the pastors and been enrolled as probationers. 
A genuine Methodist revival by the power of the 
Holy Ghost convicting of sin and leading to immedi- 
ate repentance, faith, and the witness of the Spirit, 
would be greeted by most Protestants in Italy as the 
rankest fanaticism. Nothing of the kind is known 
in our churches. Nobody seems to be looking for 
immediate results. Let the husbandman sow the 
seed and God will give the harvest in His good time. 
They do not see that the fields are already white unto 
the harvest. At this age of the world God wants 
harvesters even more than seed-sowers. 

The minutes of the Conference, this year published 
for the first time, record some changes. One had 



Conference at Milan 81 

died, and it ^vas judged best not to hold any memorial 
service or publish any obituary in the Minutes. This 
silence speaks louder than words. One was located 
at his own request. He had for years taught in the 
government schools, and received also a larger salary 
than any other unmarried man in the Conference as 
assistant pastor. The only assistance he gave was to 
preach once on the Sabbath. For this he received 
$720 per year. In withdrawing from the Conference 
he asked for a bonus of three months' salary, which 
was not granted. Some one, in irony, moved that a 
collection be taken for him. The motion did not suit 
the tastes of certain ones. He is still teaching in the 
public schools and never attends our church services. 
Another withdrew from our ministry and Church. 
He had been sent to Palermo, a new charge. A 
church that had been Presbyterian oiFered itself to us 
for support. They had a hall with furnishings, and 
our preacher Avent to them, carrying with him nothing 
but a Bible for the pulpit. He did not correspond to 
their notions of what a Methodist preacher should be, 
and we can but admire their good judgment. After 
two months a large majority of the members of the 
church waited upon him in person and gave him the 
Bible, saying in substance: "You brought nothing 
else to us. We wish for your services no longer. 
Take this and go. We have had enough of the 
Methodist Church." The preacher at once telegraphed 
to the Presiding Elder his withdrawal, assigning as a 



82 The Italy Mission 

reason that he could not work in harmony with the 
new administration. The people felt about the same 
way, only their conclusion was to dismiss the admin- 
istrator. This preacher, too, asked for a bonus of 
three months' salary. 

Another located, and as he had been a preacher 
with us for fourteen years, he asked for a bonus 
of six months' salary, i.e., $480. He had already 
made arrangements to return to the Waldensian 
Church as pastor, and, in fact, directly after the 
session of Conference, withdrew from our Church, 
taking with him to the Waldensian fold nearly our 
entire congregation at Rome. Our church at Piazza 
Poli, Rome, has been in a sickly condition ever since, 
and this is why the location is said to be unfavorable 
and the property has been sold. Some blamed the 
preacher for his act, which had the appearance of 
treachery, but long reflection has convinced us that 
he did what any other preacher in Italy would natu- 
rally have done under similar circumstances. He 
had become thoroughly convinced of the inability of 
our Mission to accomplish the work needed, and so 
could not be expected to urgently advise his congrega- 
tion to remain in the Methodist fold. In former 
years he had brought over a Wesleyan flock to us in 
Florence, and this was duly tabulated as an indication 
of the progress of our Mission in Italy. Now, with 
changed convictions, was it not equally his duty to 
transfer his congregation to the Church he was about 



Conference at Milan 83 

to join? Let us be charitable in our judgment. He 
was, on the whole, the ablest minister of the Con- 
ference. 

One preacher on trial was not received into full 
connection as he had hoped to be. He, therefore, 
sent his withdrawal to the Presiding Elder and left 
the city in disgust. A few evenings after some one 
in the theatre at Venice heard him berating the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. The Presiding Elder 
did not report his withdrawal to the Conference, soon 
had an interview with him and persuaded him to con- 
tinue in our ministry. He kept a horse and hunting 
dog and once, during the previous year, had gone off 
on a pleasure trip without permission, leaving his 
pulpit unsupplied for two Sundays. We learn that 
about three years later he sent his withdrawal the 
second time to the Presiding Elder because objection 
was made to paying the rent of two houses for him at 
the same time. Again he was persuaded to remain. 
We have it on the best of authority that he took his 
Missionary collection in the following manner : Some 
members of the Church were invited to the parsonage 
to spend the evening socially. The game was dominoes 
and the stakes were but small. All the gains were 
set aside for the benefit of missions. The Missionary 
collection on his charge was the largest ever known 
in its history, 153 francs, more than the sum collected 
for self-support. . 

We have to chronicle one more withdrawal at this 
same Conference at Milan. He had been for six 



84 The Italy Mission 

years the editor of the Nuova Scienza^ sometimes 
called the Italian Methodist Quarterly Review. He 
received his salary from the Missionary Society, and 
the funds for printing the magazine came from the 
Tract Society of our Church. There was nothing on 
the title page or in the contents to show that it was 
an orgto of Methodism. It had no readers in our 
Church except a few preachers. It aimed to be philo- 
sophical rather than religious, and its philosophy was 
declared by several members of the Conference to be 
pantheistic. The editor himself, in a published letter, 
accepted the compliment of being the best recent 
exponent of Giordano Bruno. The Nuova Scienza 
had not the remotest connection with any work of 
Methodism in Italy, yet the editor was shrewd enough 
to draw his support from the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He wanted to be continued indefinitely as 
the editor of that Review and just before Conference 
wrote to us, saying he had a large library and he 
intended to leave it in his will to our Theological 
School, if he were allowed to remain in his editorial 
chair. That offer was more transparent than most 
Italian wiles. The Presiding Bishop decided to dis- 
continue the Review and so had to assign to the editor 
a station. Melfi was suggested, a little village where 
we had no church to ruin, and so he could do no 
harm if he went there, which was not at all expected. 
The result proved that we had rightly estimated his 
devotion to Methodism. After a couple months spent 
in correspondence with the Presiding Elder, during 



Conference at Milan 85 

which he continued to draw his salary and put in 
exhorbitant chiims for moving expenses, failing to 
fully accomplish his purpose, he sent in a very saucy 
letter of withdrawal from the ministry. He still 
continues to publish the Nuova Scienza^ but not at 
the expense of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

During the previous eight months the experiment 
had been tried of having an Italian Presiding Elder. 
He was a good man, conscientious, kind, intellectually 
able, but, as some thought, poetically visionary, and 
impractical. In his report he recommended, among 
other similar things, the establishment by the Mission 
of an Agricultural Colony, where the Italians might 
be taught improved methods of agriculture. Some 
laughed, but why not laugh also at our Industrial 
Schools at Atlanta ! This brother has recently with- 
drawn from our ministry, hoping to translate his pet 
scheme into fact. Who knows but that he may have 
quite as good success as our Mission has thus far had ! 
He was not, however, thought to be a success as 
Presiding Elder, and to prevent the appointment of 
three Italian Presiding Elders no better than he, we 
proposed to the Bishop, after agreeable consultation, 
to put the entire Conference into the hands of one 
American Presiding Elder, thus returning to the old 
system. It is a grave mistake to have but one Pre- 
siding Elder in any Mission or Conference, but nothing 
better could be done at that time. Our proposition 
was gladly accepted. We would have proposed three 
American Presiding Elders had they been available. 



86 ' The Italy Mission 

They are sadly needed in order to supply an adequate 
supervision of the Mission, and by frequent and pro- 
longed visits to infuse into our pastors and members 
an evangelistic spirit and teach them revival methods. 
For our well-meant advice in this matter we after- 
wards received quite the reverse of thanks from all 
parties concerned. 

On the Sabbath the Bishop was too sick to preach. 
The Presiding Elder preached in the afternoon from 
the text, ' ' Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye 
believed ? " Considering the fact that he had been in 
Italy only three years he used the language remarka- 
bly well, and the theme was certainly one to awaken 
great interest. Half the members of the Conference 
showed their sympathy by staying away from the 
service, and half the audience went out during the 
delivery of the sermon. At the close an Italian 
brother offered prayer in his earnest, energetic style. 
The clear flow of mellifluous Italian Avas heard in the 
street. Passers-by were arrested and turned into the 
church. At the close of his prayer the church was 
full. This illustrates the difference between the 
preaching of a native and of a foreigner. A foreigner 
cannot draw and hold an audience in Italy any better 
than in America. We venture to say that not one 
foreigner out of hundreds could begin the study of 
English after thirty years of age, and succeed as 
pastor of a church in New England. His thought 
would always be comparatively broken and his lan- 
guage lame. In, any country people will go in large 



Conference at Milan 87 

numbers once or tAvice partly from curiosity to hear 
an address from the lips of one" Avho speaks their 
language poorly and with a foreign accent. In pagan 
countries and among ignorant populations, where the 
niceties of language are not cultivated or known, the 
foreigner may often speak as correctly as the common 
people, and his thought is vastly superior to what 
they are accustomed to hear. In such cases missiona- 
ries from America may succeed as evangelists and 
pastors. But in all our Missions the well-trained 
native preachers are the most successful. We knew 
several English-speaking persons who, after from ten 
to twenty-five years of residence in Italy, have failed 
to attract audiences of any considerable number. 
This principle ought to be kept in mind in the selec- 
tion of men for Italy. It would be well before send- 
ing a missionary to Italy to consider what he is going 
to do there. The Mission does not need American 
pastors, but only those who shall superintend the 
work. It is follv to send to Italv a man to be Pre- 
siding Elder, Professor in a Theological School,' or 
Editor, who never would be thought of for a corres- 
ponding position in America. If any suppose the 
Italians are raw heathen and that almost anybody 
will do for a missionary to them, such persons are 
greatly mistaken. Our work in Italy demands half 
a dozen at least of the best men that Methodism can 
furnish, and they should not be too young, or w^ithout 
experience in the ministry. 



CHAPTER YI 

VISITATION OF THE CHURCHES 

Most of our Bishops who visit the European 
Conferences are not content with seeing the natural 
scenery and picture galleries that are found along 
their lines of travel, but also begin or end their tour 
by a trip to Greece, Constantinople, Palestine, and 
Egypt. This is all as it should be, but when one of 
them said that the hardest criticism he heard in 
America of missionaries was, that they took so much 
time for vacations, we thought the criticism in its rep- 
etition was hard indeed. It sometimes happens that 
those who have the most time to rest think themselves 
overburdened with toil while others are loafing. A 
trip over the Alps to visit a station officially is minis- 
terial labor and one of the hardships of the itiner- 
ancy ; to walk over the same Alps after nine months 
of sitting at a desk, studying, Avriting, and teaching, 
is a waste of opportunity and merits reproof. We 
spent our first two summers in Florence, studying the 
language, editing a paper, and preparing lectures. 
This was against the advice of all friends, for scarcely 
any English-speaking people remain in Italy during 



I 



Visit ATiox of the Churches 89 

the hot weather, except they go to the mountams or 
the sea-shore. During our second year in Italy Ave 
edited a monthly Italian paper of eight pages, writing 
one-quarter of the same, translated and wrote tracts, 
including Wesley's Plain Account of Christian Per- 
fection^ to the extent of several hundred pages of 
printed matter, gave five lectures a week in Syste- 
matic Theology, all of which had to be written out in 
Italian, and taught something of English, Greek 
Testament, and Church History in the Theological 
School. At the end of the year Ave found ourselves 
so reduced in health, so nerA'ous and tired, that a 
change of climate Avas absolutely necessary. The 
Bishop referred to Avould say : '' Why didn't you go 
out and evangelize during the A^acation?" We reply, 
that demands, first of all, a good command of the 
language ; second, it requires authorization of the 
Presiding Elder and permission of the preacher in 
charge, if the CA^angelization is to be done in our 
churches ; third, if CAangelization be attempted in 
the open air, as in India and many other countries, 
the evangelist AA^ould shortly find himself in prison. 
'No one can speak to a company in the streets or fields 
on any subject AA^thout special permission from the 
civil authorities. If a person haA'e a license as col- 
porteur, he may say enough to. advertise his AA^ares, 
and, armed Avith this authority, some do A'isit from 
house to house and really do much preaching publicly^ 
In this AA^ay much good may be done, but it is ques- 



90 The Italy Mission 



J 



tionable whether foreigners would be permitted to do 
such work or could do it successfully if permitted. 
At least we do not know that it has ever been tried. 
Go out and evangelize ! Yes, but there is a limit to | 
human strength and to human opportunities. Come 
ye apart into the mountains and rest awhile. Even 
missionaries have frail bodies and cannot work all 
the time. In this respect they are just like Bishops 
and General Secretaries. During our four and a 
half years in Italy we spent as a vacation scarcely 
three months, climbing over the Alps, visiting our 
stations in Italy, and seeing the work of the Swiss 
and German Conferences. It was not time spent in 
vain even from the Missionary point of view. We 
saw and heard many things that gave us a better . 
acquaintance with our work in Italy and better ideals 
of what that work should be. Would you like to 
accompany us on such a trip ? We will go unheralded 
and look in upon our churches unexpectedly. Thus 
we may see some things not generally seen by visiting 
officials. 

We will start out from Florence and go over the 
Appenines by diligence either to Forli or to Faenza. 
The latter route we made in August, 1891. The 
former we traveled in the reverse direction with 
Bishop Mallalieu in October, 1888. We cannot stop 
noAV to describe the mountain scenery, the delightful 
conversation with the Bishop, the enormous quantities 
of luscious grapes eaten on the way, and the various 



Visitation of the Churches 91 

incidents of a memorable day's travel. On our way 
to Forli we stop a few minutes at Dovadola and look 
into our hired house. A room on the ground floor 
serves as our church. Perhaps fifty persons might be 
crowded into it with considerable discomfort, but this 
is not necessary. The medium congregation reported 
in the Minutes of 1888 and 1889 was 18 and 20. 
The village has a population of several thousands, 
and ours is the only evangelical church in it. We 
have been told that the nucleus of our church formerly 
belonged to the Plvmouth Brethren. This little church 
has had a troublous history since it became Metho- 
dist. The thrice ex-priest, Palmieri, had charge here 
and at Forli for two years and left such a bad impres- 
sion of Protestantism as was only excelled by the 
impression made by a successor two years later. An 
unknown person was picked up as a supply without 
any proof of his fitness except that a certain pastor 
had recomnaended him as a good fellow out of employ- 
ment. He spent one year at Yenosa and nearly ruined 
everything there. His memory survives only in the 
minds of his creditors. Then he was transferred to 
Dovadola. What a change one year in our ministry 
had wrought in his personal appearance. His face 
had changed from pale to red, and his once lean body 
had grown portly and bloated. He borrowed money 
of every person he could and bought goods on credit. 
On complaint of his church members a deputy was 
sent by the Presiding Elder to dispatch him, i, e., 



92 The Italy Mission 

to tell him that his services were no lono:er wanted 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. But his credit- 
ors began to see that if he left, their hope of 
recovering the money loaned him would take wings 
and fly away with him. So they began to plead for 
his stay and to threaten secession from Methodism. 
The deputy was firm, however, and the pastor not 
long after departed. A Waldensian teacher was then 
received into our Church and sent to Dovadola as a 
supply. He told us that at his first service the 
audience consisted of the janitor alone. The Meth- 
odist Church had been boycotted, and all the members 
declared that they would not set foot into our church 
again till the debts of the former pastor had been 
paid. The janitor, it seems, had not conscientious 
regard enough for the honor of our Church to induce 
him to resign a salaried position. 

''Among the faithless, faithful only he." 
They argued that the authorities of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church had knowingly sent them a pastor 
unworthy of confidence, that they had received him 
in good faith and trusted him with money to meet 
emergent needs, and that the Missionary Society 
was responsible morally and financially for their loss. 
The argument is not without force, but it put the 
treasurer of the Mission in a bad dilemma. He 
must either lose an entire church from the statistical 
rolls or admit the principle that he as treasurer is 
responsible for the debts of all our insolvent preach- 



Visitation of the Churches 93 

ers. We remember arguing the case with him. He 
said, " The Missionary Society sends us money to do 
good with, and if we can do good by paying these 
debts and so save our church, we ought to do it." 
We could not quite admit the principle in that form. 
The Missionary Society appropriates every dollar to 
some specific purpose, to do a certain kind of good, 
and we have no right to use the money of the Church 
to pay private debts. However, some money was 
raised by private subscription, and a compromise was 
made with the creditors. They agreed to return to 
our Church on receiving seventy cents on a dollar, 
which was paid. The debts amounted to about a 
thousand francs. The ex-pastor went to Rome and 
was soon in the employment of another denomination. 
But the stage is waiting. Let us leave Dovadola, 
" nor cast one longing, lingering look behind." 

Forli has suffered from the same unworthy pastors 
and from others well-meaning but incompetent. The 
only evangelical church in a city of 40,000 inhabi- 
tants, it has dragged along for years with an average 
attendance reported in the Minutes of 14, 25, and 40, 
and such statistics are nearly always exaggerated. 
Some difficulties between the pastor and the people 
have arisen, due to a lack of tact and good sense on 
the part of the former. Such difficulties are usually 
set down to the charge of Catholic bigotry and perse- 
cution, and the indiscreet preacher may figure for a 
while as a live martvr. The Catholics do not trouble 



94 The Italy Mission 

us at all. We are not doing enough to provoke their 
opposition. Protestantism is now as undisturbed in 
Italy as in America. Occasionally a stone came 
through our church window at Florence. It was 
thrown by some rowdyish boy in the street, and not 
by any Catholic assailants. It has a certain effect in 
American papers to attribute such disturbances to 
Catholic hatred. We have more to fear in Italy from 
indifference than from opposition. We have not 
shown zeal enough to make sinners mad. 

We look in at our little church at Faenza, where 
we have been '' struggling" more than a dozen years, 
if that word may properly describe the do-nothing 
habit of some of our pastors. Over the entrance to a 
room of about 12x25 feet in dimensions is still written, 
Chiesa Cristiana, We commend authorities if they 
are ashamed to advertise this as a Methodist Church. 
The Minutes report here an average attendance of 
twenty-five, but we learn from more than one reliable 
source that for three years the audience was oftener 
three than twenty-five. Meanwhile the five hundred 
priests of that city laugh at us and leave us undis- 
turbed.. 

We pass by Bologna, already sufficiently described, 
and go on to Venice. Work was begun here in 1876, 
and probably over $20,000 have here been spent. 
We have no church property. A fine house is rented 
for $300 per annum, and a large room in it is used as 
a hall of evangelization. A recent pastor told us he 



Visitation of the Churches 95 

fouud 150 names on the cliurcli register, but had seen 
only two of them in church. The Minutes of 1893 
report fourteen members and two probationers. The 
congregation varies from five to twenty-live. When 
the Presiding Elder was to make his quarterly visit 
the pastor used to ask the minister of another denomi- 
nation to send his congregation up to our service so 
as to make the Presiding Elder think that we have a 
large audience in Venice. We told this to one of our 
preachers in the Conference. " Oh ! " said he, " there 
are two or three other pastors that do that way." 
However, that is not quite up to the trick of another 
pastor. He went out into the streets and cafe and 
hired an audience for a cent apiece. '• Go ye out into 
the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, 
that my house may be full." Only a house filled three 
or four times a year in that manner is no fair indica- 
tion of the prosperity of the station. Our Bishops of 
course always find crowded houses. There is a curi- 
osity about seeing a live Protestant American Bishop. 
Let them drop down upon our churches without escort 
and unknown if they want to know w^hat is being done 
in Italy. For five years we have had in Venice a fine 
location and a nice parsonage. What more could be 
wished by a preacher of easily contented spirit, unless 
it were an increase of salary ? The preacher in charge 
is a young man who had to be expelled from the 
Theological School. We do not dare to prophesy any 
improvement under his ministry. 



96 The Italy Mission 

We pass on to Milan, where it is so refreshing to 
be able to record some signs of prosperity. The 
church is quite well filled according to all reports. 
The membership and collections are increasing. 
There are ^ve classes. This prosperity is due to the 
new church, to the more liberal spirit of the Milanese, 
but more than all to the good sense, piety, and activity 
of the pastor, Felice Dardi, and of his present assist- 
ant, Augusto Manini. The Day and the Evening 
Schools also serve to increase the congregations. 
Brother Dardi has been here fLye years. His first 
three assistants were great hindrances. The first of 
these was an ex -priest, who had to be discharged after 
three months. He could neither preach nor pray ; 
used to write out a prayer and read it at the public 
service. The second was a suspended theological 
student, who did much harm. The third was a 
typical character that is constantly seeking entrance 
into the ranks of the ministry. He told us a thrill- 
ing story of his conversion while leaning on the 
tomb of General Gordon in Westminster Abbey. He 
at once decided to abandon journalism and devote 
himself to the evangelization of Italy. He told others 
he had been a lawyer and a Professor of Latin and 
Greek. He did us much damage for four months ; 
then by falsehood and by recommendations unwisely 
given to him he got into the Waldensian Theological 
School as a student, having been refused admission 
to ours. Here he remained but a short time. Being 



Visitation of the Churches 97 

solicited by a creditor for money, he drew a stiletto. 
For this and for embezzlement of the funds of a 
society heAvas sentenced to prison for eighteen months. 
The present assistant at Milan, Sig. Manini, has 
served as a ''supply" for several years. He lacks 
education but has zeal and piety, and so does better 
work than all the philosophers of the Conference, 
Philosophy is the Italian's forte. All who can scrib- 
ble Avrite philosophy, or think they can. 

We come next to Turin. This vv^as a station of 
the Chiesa Libera, maintained largely by English 
Presbyterians until 1880, when the pastor got disaf- 
fected and came with nearly all his church members 
into the Methodist fold. The explanation is given in 
the report of the Free Italian Church for 1880, as 
follows : 

"For several years Signor Bracchetto has caused great 
uneasiness to the Free Church in regard to many things^ 
doctrinal teaching, guidance of Church in discipline, etc., 
management of Mission, and so on. These things were for a 
long time charitably put down to imprudence and thought- 
lessness. But it began to be felt that Signor Bracchetto really 
was conscious of how much, and how far, he was constantly 
compromising his Church and Committee and the honor of 
Christ. In June last, he was officially informed, that at the 
October Meeting of the General Assembly he would be charged 
with disloyalty to Gospel interests, and the heads of accusa- 
tion were indicated, in order that he might be fully prepared 
for his defence, if he had any to offer. Later on the society 
in England which supported him, through us, withdrew that 
support, because of the general unsatisfactoriness of his work. 
When October came, Signor Bracchetto did not appear at the 
Assembly, nor was the Turin Church represented. Nothing 

7 



:98 The Italy Mission 

'Could be done in his absence beyond a statement of what 
^vould have been entered on, if he had appeared. But his 
•conduct was considered a slight, and the Treasurer refused 
to have any correspondence with him. All his constant 
demands for schools, locales, and evangelists have been re- 
peatedly declined by the Committee, which had neither the 
money nor the desire to spend more on the Turin Mission. 
We now hear that since the Assembly in October Signer 
Bracchetto has been busy seeking to enter another Church, 
without the cognizance of his Committee, and that he has 
joined the Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church of 
America." — Page 28. 

The action of the pastor cannot be considered as 
anything better than a treacherous secession. He 
reported 97 members and 125 hearers, and our annual 
statistical report was increased by so much. His suc- 
cessor at Turin reported 40 members and 30 hearers. 
The aforesaid Bracchetto has been a failure as a Meth- 
odist preacher. 

The Missionary Society has bought at Turin, for 
$30,000, a house with four or five apartments. The 
preacher has the best one, and the rest are rented. 
The services are held in a room back of an inner 
court. To build a suitable church here will require 
$10,000 or more, and then it will be hidden out of 
sight by the apartments in front and unfavorably 
located. The present pastor seems to be a good and 
inefficient man, trained in the Waldensian Schools. 
The audience is small and the prospect is not inviting. 
Our church here will probably continue about as it is 
indefinitely. 

We arrive at Genoa on the reo;ular eveninfi' for a 



Visitation of the Churches 99 

prayer-meeting in August, 1890, and repair to the 
parsonage. It is the second floor in what is called in 
Italy a palace. The largest room in the apartment is 
used for church services. The rent of the whole is 
$600 per year. The location is unfavorable, but noth- 
ing better could be found. It was determined to plant 
Methodism at this " strategic point" at any cost. A 
minister was sent here with instructions to find a hall. 
He hunted two years on full salary before finding it, 
and then, just as he Avas ordered to go elsewhere, he 
sent a telegram, saying the hall had been found. 
That minister is now superannuated and draws a pen- 
sion from funds received from our Book Concern and 
Missionary Society. On the evening above mentioned 
there was no prayer-meeting. The hall had been 
engaged by a so-called society for the propagation of 
the Italian language in the colonies. Its members 
belonged to some of the best families in the city. The 
pastor hoped to interest them in Methodism and so 
invited them to hold their meeting in our church for 
this special occasion. They talked and talked about 
a mere nothing till after midnight, smoked, spat on 
the floor, and departed. Oh ! the folly of trying to 
win the wise and wealthy by conciliatory measures ! 
Some think we must popularize the Gospel ; others, 
that we must adapt it to the upper classes. They 
think it is the power of God unto salvation only when 
it is mingled with politics, or literature, or contro- 
versy, or philosophy. All this is a confession that 



100 The Italy Mission 

the pure and simple Gospel is powerless, and that 
something must be attached to it to give it efficacy. 
This preacher gathered a little congregation and a 
membership of twelve. His successor wrote us that 
nearly all disappeared after his arrival and he had to 
go to work on a different basis and gather a new 
church. The Minutes of 1893 report a membership 
of sixteen and an average audience of thirty. This is 
the result of six years' effort. 

Our next stopping-place is Pisa. Here we have 
an old Catholic chapel remodeled into a Methodist 
church with parsonage over it. The location is poor. 
The parsonage is damp and unhealthy. Wicked and 
incompetent pastors have been the bane of this church 
for many years. In 1889 it reported a membership 
and average attendance of fifteen. In 1891 a day 
school was established with small tuition fee. The 
effect of this has been to increase the attendance some- 
what. The pastor who two years ago was thought 
by some to be so good and successful has had to 
withdraw from the Conference under charges. We 
remember what opposition we encountered when we 
objected to his admission. 

Twelve miles from Pisa is Pontedera. Here we 
have a little chapel built and owned by Dr. Goucher. 
The Roman Catholics have bought the land all around 
it, so as to insure against any possibility of our 
growth. No heavy insurance was needed. During 
the pastorate of Brother Dardi, now at Milan, the 
chapel was well filled. The congregation has now 



Visitation of the Churches 101 

decreased to an average of fifteen hearers, so the last 
Minutes say. The leading member for years was 
keeper of a club-house and sold all namable liquors at 
the bar, including liquor e d' inferno^ which translated, 
comes as near hell-fire as anything. We remember 
how he urged us to take a glass. He is no longer a 
member of our Church, but frequents our services and 
is a very disturbing element. We have a school here 
of twenty-five children. There is no tuition fee. 
When free text-books were furnished, as they were 
for two years, there were eighty scholars enrolled. 
The children stay with us till they are Avanted to 
work. Then the priest takes them, and we never see 
them more at our church. The school, during the 
pastorate of Brother Dardi, had many appearances 
of success. Since he left, it has been of no benefit 
to our missionary work. 

We have now been nearly around the circle of the 
Northern District. It remains to say something about 
Rome and Naples. We have said in a former chapter 
that the old station at Piazza Poli, Rome, has been 
abandoned and the property sold. Some services were 
held here during 1891, but with scarcely any audience. 
In the latter part of 1891, Brother Conte took this 
station and by zeal and advertising gathered a congre- 
gation of from thirty to seventy. Had he continued 
here with proper support, we are confident he could 
have achieved success. His success in Boston affords 
good ground for such an opinion. But he was removed 
after a few months, and the Italian service was aban- 



102 The Italy Mission 

doned. An English service was attempted here with 
an average attendance of a dozen or so tourists. 

Another service has now for several years been 
conducted in a small hall on Yia Cavour. The school 
of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society and the 
many employees of the Mission make up an audience 
respectable in numbers. We spent a Sunday here in 
1890, and outside'of aforesaid school and employees 
we counted twelve persons in the audience. The two 
schools and the families of employees in the Tipografia 
and elsewhere would make up an audience of one 
hundred and more. The Minutes of 1891 and 1892 
report an average attendance of fifty, which must be 
considered pretty good. Of course they can't all go 
every Sunday. A judicious use of more money would 
probably increase the attendance. The Ep worth 
League had at one time gratuitous classes in English 
and French with about forty members. A few of 
these frequent the services of our Church. At Rome 
we are building on hopes for the future. At present 
we have very little to show after twenty years of 
endeavor. 

Naples was visited in September, 189 1 . We went to 
our place of preaching in the forenoon and found that 
the pastor and son had gone into the country on business 
and pleasure. There was service at noon and another 
in the evening. At the first were present, besides 
the family of the pastor, ten persons ; at the second, 
only five. The services were held in the apartment 
rented as a parsonage, on the third floor of a large 



Visitation of the Churches 103 

palace in the best part of the city. One needed a 
guide to find it. Seven hundred and sixty dollars 
were paid as rent for these lodgings. The pastor 
rented the place and then got the endorsement of the 
Presiding Elder. It was a beautiful place to live in, 
but a congregation could not possibly be attracted 
there. There were seats for only forty persons, and 
these were vacant most of the time. Since then 
another locale has been rented, less spacious. We 
have wasted from first to last over $35,000 in Naples. 
Wasted^ Ave say, for our present church amounts to 
nothing, whatever the reports may say, and there is 
no cause for hope of success in the near future. To 
thus advertise Protestantism in the largest city of the 
kingdom, for a series of twenty years, is a disgrace to 
Methodism, and a positive injury to our cause. It 
gives the impression that Protestantism is a powerless, 
contemptible thing. It would be better to sink the 
money in the Atlantic than to spend it as has been 
done in Naples. We need a church edifice, well 
located, and then a man full of the Holy Spirit to fill 
it, and until we can have these requisites, especially 
the latter, we had better not play any longer at mis- 
sions in Naples. 

We have visited many of these stations more than 
once, and have talked with persons who know well 
their real condition. We, therefore, know whereof 
we affirm. The annual official reports present the 
bright, ^. e., the hopeful side. Often there is no solid 
foundation for the hopes expressed. 



CHAPTER VII 

SOME ODIOUS (?) COMPARISONS 

A TRUER conception of any work can be gained by 
viewing it from various standpoints. It is well for 
the Methodist Episcopal Church to see its foreign 
Missions through the eyes of other than official repre- 
sentatives, who are expected to publish chiefly the 
bright side of the work. The Christian Advocate^ in 
its report of the Meeting of the General Missionary 
Committee of 1892, reports its editor as saying that he 
was " a cold-blooded editor and did not believe many 
accounts which the brethren sent to the Advocate 
about revivals held under their own directions." " If 
the policy was to send all but one American mission- 
ary out of the ^country, he opposed it ; that would 
reduce us to the testimony of one man as to our work, 
and he Avould naturally tell what he was pleased to 
have us know.'' There is here expressed consider- 
able shrewd insight into human nature. 

It was our privilege to travel throughout Switzer- 
land and Germany, to visit many of our missionary 
stations, to spend a year in Germany, to learn some- 
thing of the language and converse with many of our 



Some Odious (?) Comparisons 105 

preachers. We made their methods a study, to find 
out the secret of their success. The secret is an open 
one. We found no novelties, nothing more nor less 
than old-fashioned Methodism plus the homes and 
hospitals of the deaconesses. Let us look at a few of 
the German stations and see how they compare with 
our work in Italy. 

We spent a Sabbath at the quaint old city of 
Nuremberg and of course found our way to the Meth- 
odist church in Tetzel Street. Our service is in the 
same building in which Tetzel sold his indulgences 
and furnished fresh cause for the great Reformation. 
Then a fictitious salyation could be bought for a trifle 
of money ; now the people receive the offer of salva- 
tion Avithout money and without price. About seven ty- 
iive hearers were present, and the preacher talked 
about the "greatest thing in the world," the love 
described in the thirteenth chapter of the first Epistle 
to the Corinthians. Frequent responses indicated that 
the truth Avas passing from heart to heart. They sang 
better than the Italians. They have better music and 
a real Methodist hymn-book. The people were social 
and happy after the service. They are poor but 
contribute $100 per year toward self-support. The 
preacher has two other appointments Avithin tAA o miles 
of the city and preaches four times every Sunday. 

We enjoyed the hospitality of our minister at 
Liestal, SAAdtzerland. He has thirteen preaching 
places on his circuit and preaches CA'ery night in the 



106 The Italy Mission 

week, except Saturday, and frequently four times on 
Sunday. This is far easier than to preach once a 
week, and certainly it looks more like mission work. 
He has a young man as helper Avho has served a year 
for $125 in order to demonstrate his fitness to be sent 
to the Theological School as a candidate for the minis- 
try. This young man preaches six times a week. 
They preach in halls and private houses. There are 
300 members in the circuit and the church is self- 
supporting. Nothing like this has ever been attempted 
in Italy. Instead a minister with one preaching place 
and a handful of hearers has often desired and received 
an assistant. ^ 

We attended the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 
building of our church in Berlin. It has grown to be 
four large congregations with 600 members and over 
1,000 children in the Sunday-schools. There are 
revival services in some one of the churches almost 
every night, and we have seen many at the altar here 
and at Frankfort, seeking salvation in the old Meth- 
odist way. The preacher at Berlin is one of the 
ablest men in the Conference, has a wife and two 
children, and receives a salary of about $400 per year. 
A preacher in like circumstances in Italy receives 
more than twice that amount and does not half the 
amount of work performed by pastor Schell at Berlin. 

At Frankfort we have a beautiful church, a large 
congregation, a fine theological school of tiventy-seven 
students, fourteen appointments connected with this 



Some Odious (?) Comparisons 107 

church which furnish opportunity to the students to 
preach what they learn, and constant prosperity. Not 
all these G-erman preachers and Professors think 
alike, and some cordially dislike one another, but this 
does not hinder them from working heartily to save 
souls and build up the Church. They work hard and 
pray and preach earnestly. 

We visited other churches and made many inquir- 
ies about our work in Germany and Switzerland. 
These Missions are an honor to our Church. Among 
the causes of their prosperity we may mention the 
following : 

1. Nearly four centuries of Protestantism. The 
national character has been thereby modified, the con- 
science aroused, and a longing for salvation from sin 
created. In Italy the conscience is seared as with a 
hot iron. 

2. The people are more serious, thoughtful and 
stable than the Italians. There is firmness of charac- 
ter and moral earnestness in them that are not often 
found south of the Alps. This seems to be the real 
reason why the Reformation prospered in Germany 
and was crushed in Italy. 

3. The Mission in Germany was established by 
Germans of ability and piety who were converted and 
trained for the ministry in America. They went 
back in the spirit of self-sacrifice to convert their 
countrymen . 

4. Our preachers have all from the beginning 



108 The Italy Mission 

been trained in the doctrine, spirit, and modes of 
evangelization of Methodism. No ex -priest or ex- 
Lutheran preacher has been employed. If Italy had 
adopted the same policy from th-e beginning, we should 
now see different results. 

5. The old circuit system is in vogue. Every 
central church has from six to sixteen appointments 
in the country villages that surround it. In Germany 
there are 72 stations and 506 preaching places ; in 
Switzerland, 28 stations and 206 preaching places. 
Thus local preachers are utilized and the preacher in 
charge has enough to do. His business is to preach 
the Gospel every day and not simply to preach once 
or twice on Sunday and then give himself no anxiety 
about the work. 

6. The class-meetings. Every Methodist in the 
German and Swiss Missions must frequent these 
meetings and give his testimony. If he has nothing 
to say for his Saviour, he is dismissed from the 
Church. In the class-meetings the weekly offerings 
for the support of the ministry are received by the 
leaders, and every member contributes according to 
his ability. The general collection on Sunday is to 
pay the current expenses of the church. Nothing 
like this is known in Italy. 

7. The co-operation of the laity, especially of the 
class-leaders, local preachers, associations of young 
men and of women, and the deaconesses. All these 
render excellent service. In Italy the laymen do 



Some Odious (?) Comparisons 109 

almost nothing unless paid for service, and then thej 
do but little. 

8. The desire and the earnest effort made by all 
to become self-supporting as soon as possible. They 
are poor, many of them very poor. Wages are small, 
from fifty cents to a dollar a day, but they save con- 
scientiously in order to support their preacher and 
their church. In this work of self-denial the preach- 
ers set a good example. In Italy neither preachers 
nor people seem to have a desire to become independent 
financially. They prefer to draw their support from 
America. 

We have now revealed the secret of our success in 
Germany and Switzerland. We believe that similar 
principles and methods put into practice in any of our 
mission fields will in a few years result in marked 
success, and these methods can be adopted anywhere. 

For purpose of further comparison let us look at 
Bulgaria, which as a Mission has been living at a 
poor dying rate for thirty-five years. The Missionary 
Committee has an annual debate, whether to continue 
or close our work there. We visited this Mission in 
1893, not expecting to find much, but we found that 
the Mission was established and has continued on a 
better foundation than the Italy Mission. The only 
reason why it has not shown as favorable statistical 
report is because so little money comparatively has been 
spent upon it. It now has eleven preachers besides 
the Superintendent and two Professors in the '' Scien- 



110 The Italy Mission 

tific and Theological School." There are 182 mem- 
l3ers and probationers, not many after thirty-five years 
of labor, but no effort has been made to inflate 
statistics, and persecution is such that only genuine 
converts unite with the Church. Our people are 
refused the right of burial in the public cemeteries, 
and in some instances our dead have been buried like a 
dog beside the public highway. A Greek Bishop took 
away the wife and children of one of our members by 
divorcement, because he would not forsake our Church. 
Our members are poor, yet some contribute one-tenth 
of their income. They contributed $9.20 per member 
in 1892. Of course a large part of this was given by 
American Missionaries. There is not a station that 
does not pay its entire current expenses. This has 
been the rule from the beginning. Bills for fuel, 
lights, janitor, organist, etc., are never once mentioned 
to the Treasurer of the Mission. In this respect they 
differ widely from the Italy Mission, where all such 
bills are sent to the Treasurer of the Mission for pay- 
ment. It has been argued in Italy that the people are 
too poor to pay these bills. The people are still poorer 
in Bulgaria. Where there is a will there is a way. 
Volere ^ potere. Notwithstanding the difference in 
the statistical tables we doubt not there are as many 
genuine converts in the Bulgarian Mission to-day as 
in that of Italy. 

Though Bulgaria is a land of wine and tobacco, 
our preachers and members are quite unanimously 



Some Odious (?) Comparisons 111 

abstainers from both. We saw the blue ribbon of the 
Temperance Society in the button-hole of several of 
the conoTeo^ation at Yarna. The class meetino^ is 
attended by all our members. The ministry has 
never been disgraced by immorality of any in its 
ranks. The preachers now remaining are good men 
and desirable. 

The Theological School is rather a misnomer. If 
God converts and calls to the ministry any students 
of the school now at Rustchuck, some instruction is 
given to such as preparation therefor. At present 
there are none in training. One young man wanted 
to preach a little while in order to get married and 
establish himself as a mechanic. He was soon dis- 
charged from service. 

The Bulofarian Mission has struofoied ao-ainst o^reat 
difficulties. Its first founders made an impression for 
good upon men of influence, that can not be tabulated. 
It has acted as a leaven for the improvement of the 
Greek Church, some of whose ministers are now 
preaching the Gospel because of our Mission. It has 
helped to arouse and strengthen the national spirit, 
and to throw off the galling yoke of the unspeakable 
Turk. Two reasons at least, we may mention, for 
its lack of greater success. 

1. The money appropriated has been expended 
almost wholly in paying the salaries and expenses of 
preachers who had no place to preach in. Our three 
or four churches are of recent date, and all of them 



112 The Italy Mission 

are too small. There are no halls to be hired. Few 
people will go to a private house for religious service. 
Preaching from house to house is impossible. Open- 
air preaching would be followed by immediate impris- 
onment. The first thing to do in Bulgaria is to build 
some churches, and let us have no more little seven- 
by-nine stone boxes. 

2. There has been a misuse of money. In many 
cases the salaries of native preachers have been too 
large. Some now receive $1,000 per year and house 
rent. This is far above the salaries of the country. 
Some preachers have been content to draw a salary 
and do nothing, and sach have been tolerated for many 
years. A colporteur received five hundred francs per 
quarter in advance, and a percentage on sales. He 
sold during the quarter thirty-six francs' worth of books. 
It evidently costs something to disseminate religious 
literature in Bulgaria. Formerly preachers were paid 
quarterly in advance ; now at the end of each month 
of service. This is a great improvement, but it took 
much firmness to make it, and occasioned many com- 
plaints. One Bible woman received $500 per year as 
salary. It is doubtful if she could have earned one 
quarter of that sum at anything else. Two pastors 
were at one time required in a certain station to take 
care of two members, with no church to preach in. 
In another place three pastors tenderly cared for eight 
members. One preacher for ten years never removed 
his family from Rustchuck, though appointed to sev- 



Some Odious (?) Comparisons 113 

eral stations. The impression seems to have existed 
with many, that the Mission is for the financial benefit 
of the workers employed. In this respect they are 
just like the majority of so-called workers in Italy. 
A corrupting financial policy has been the evil of both 
Missions. 

The new Superintendent in Bulgaria seems to be 
the right man for the place, and in his three years of 
administration has introduced many reforms and done 
away with some abuses. Some idlers have been dis- 
missed. He needs reinforcements from America to 
share his authority and aid in his labors. No Mission 
can be safely entrusted to one man. 



CHAPTER YIII 

CONFERENCES AT BOLOGNA AND FLORENCE 

The Annual Conference convened at Bologna in 
April, 1890. Bishop Warren presided with so much 
grace and kindness that he won the hearts of all. 
His manner contributed not a little to the spirituality 
of the session. A more devout and prayerful spirit 
than usual was remarked by many, and this was 
manifest especially at the Love Feast. The Bishop 
gave us wise counsels publicly and privately. It is 
only to be regretted that he could not visit any of the 
stations either before or after the Conference. He 
arrived Thursday morning at Bologna, and departed 
the following Monday. Such visitation can hardly be 
called episcopal supervision. Bishop Walden the 
following year visited nearly if not quite every station, 
spending a month in Italy. Such visitation has been 
done by no other Bishop. 

One who had formerly been a member of the Con- 
ference and had withdrawn was readmitted and sta- 
tioned at Turin, but just then having received a 
louder call to another Church, he again sent in his 
resignation. Our friend who had spent two years 



Conferences at Bologna and Florence 115 

hunting for a hall at Genoa, became superannuated. 
What a touching letter he wrote us just before Con- 
ference of his physical condition and of his brief hold 
upon life ! It was accompanied by the request that 
we use our little influence to secure for him as large a 
pension as possible. He had married a daughter 
of a very Avealthy man in Genoa and had need of 
nothing. Every superannuate expects to be pensioned, 
no matter what his financial condition may be. The 
custom of the Government is to pension all employees 
after twenty-five years of service, without regard to 
the state of health or finances. Our preachers expect 
the Missionary Society to adopt a similar policy, even 
if they have not served a long time. One superan- 
nuate received $240 per year for some time from the 
Missionary Society. He had served fourteen years. 
When we remembered that in the Maine Conference 
the largest amount given to any one, even after 
fifty years of service, was $200, we could not help 
instituting a comparison, especially as we knew of 
one place where this Italian brother had ten thou- 
sand francs at interest. All the time that he was 
drawing this pension from the Missionary Society 
there was a fund of over ^Ye thousand francs undis- 
turbed that had been received from year to year from 
distributed surplus of the Book Concern. 

The case of one brother was of some interest. 
He had been educated by the Wesleyans, but was 
unacceptable to them. There is more than one Super- 



116 The Italy Mission 

intendent in Italy that has a way of recommending to 
another denomination men whom he does not want. 
After he had preached five years in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, we became informed of a book 
published anonymously by him in the first year of his 
ministry, in which he avowed the rankest pantheism. 
He denied the personality of God, the divinity of 
Christ, the efiicacy of prayer, the need or possibility 
of regeneration, and conscious existence after death. 
Yet the committee on examinations had reported him 
sound in the faith. When charged with being the 
author of the book he at first denied it, but when the 
proof was presented, he confessed its authorship, but 
declared that those were his opinions ^ve years before, 
when he thought that "Methodism might be thus 
philosophically interpreted." Now he had changed 
his mind. He was, however, asked to withdraw from 
the Conference, and did so. We were told that he 
wrote to a friend soon after, reaffirming the opinions 
of that book. He was, however, soon received into 
another evangelical church in Italy on the ' ' warm 
recommendation " of the Presiding Elder, as we learn 
from an authority in that Church. The preacher 
who, on being turned out of one denomination, can- 
not find acceptance in another, must be a poor thing 
indeed. We never knew such a case, and the preach- 
ers that have belonged to two or three different denom- 
inations may be counted by the score. In this respect 
Italy is not altogether unlike America. Even here 



Conferences at Bologna and Florence 117 

almost anybody who can talk glibly, can get into one 
pulpit or another. 

This Conference marked a change in the manage- 
ment of publications. A paper called the Fiaccola 
had once been published, sometimes bi-monthly, some- 
times weekly, and at last once a month. Its character 
depended upon the character of the changing editor. 
Sonaetimes it was a philosophical journal ; sometimes 
it was a controversial sheet ; and sometimes it was a 
religious newspaper. For some reason it had been 
discontinued. It was thought best not to resurrect 
the old paper, but to start a new one. Some difficulty 
was experienced in selecting a name for it, as all inter- 
ested were desirous of christening the child, but finally 
the name Evangelista was agreed upon as best corre- 
sponding to our conception of what the paper ought 
to be. The first number contained a translation of 
Wesley's "Character of a Methodist." It seemed to 
meet with some favor, and at the end of the first year 
fully five hundred copies were subscribed for and sold 
regularly, a number considerably in advance of the 
circulation of the Fiaccola, Some preachers took 
much interest in the paper and sold many copies. 
Others piled up a stack of papers, sent them for dis- 
tribution, behind the pulpit, as they still continue to 
do. The effort was made to make the paper intensely 
religious and distinctively Methodist. Editorials were 
written on the class-meetings prayer-meeting, the 
witness of the Spirit, modes of evangelization, etc. 



118 The Italy Mission 

Rare bits of religious experience and selections from 
standard Methodist authors were translated for publi- 
cation. Moral reforms were not neglected. We bore 
down too heavily for some on the use of tobacco, and 
two articles against the use of alcoholic beverages, 
especially wine and beer, awakened much indignation 
that can hardly be characterized as righteous. Nobody 
complained when sin in general was assailed, but 
when the sins of those who read the paper were men- 
tioned, some began to show that they were under con- 
viction enough to make them mad. One of the articles 
was a review of Die Alkohol/rage^ by a German Pro- 
fessor, published in English by the Woman's Christian 
Temperance Union. The other was a review of 
Alcoolismo^ a work by Sig. Tito of Rome. We did 
little more than re-echo the positions and opinions of 
these publications. Some letters received were not 
specially complimentary. One did us the honor to 
call us a fool, an ass, a liar and, strangest of all, a 
drunkard. ''You must have been drunk," he said, 
''when you wrote the article." Other letters were of 
a more encouraging character, especially the one 
declaring that the reading of Fletcher's prayer for 
purity of heart had been the means of his awakening 
and conversion. 

Owing to a lack of hearty co-operation on the part 
of some a larger part of the paper had to be written 
by the editor than was anticipated. Its literary style 
Avas of course not all that could be desired, and without 



Conferences at Bologna and Florence 119 

the aid of an Italian proof-reader its publication would 
have been quite impossible. But we eared more for 
substance than for form and aimed to make the truth 
pointed though rough-hewed. The outcries showed 
that some arrows hit the mark and were sharp enough 
to pierce. The paper was never designed to please 
sinners, though sinners outside the Church were not 
offended. They never complain of the pointedness of 
truth. It is the easy-going church member and minis- 
ter that gets wounded, perhaps because conscience is 
sufficiently awakened to take the truth home. 

At the Bologna Conference a preacher who had 
not subscribed or Avritten for the paper, and had not 
obtained a subscriber on his charge, offered a series 
of criticisms against the paper. The result was that 
the Bishop, after much consultation and hesitation, 
transferred the seat of publication to Rome, and after 
one year our critic became the editor of the Evangel- 
ista^ and has continued in that office up to the present. 
It is unnecessary to add that the entire character of 
the paper has changed. It treats especially social, 
political, and semi-philosophical questions, and has a 
sprinkling of secular, literary, and religious news. 
It does not respond to the religious needs of the peo- 
ple, and does not fairly represent the convictions and 
principles of Methodism. It has been " pronounced 
by competent judges to be the best religious paper in 
Italy." Equally competent judges said the same thing 
of it before the change of management, and between 



120 The Italy Mission 

the paper as it was then and as it is now there is little 
resemblance from the religious point of view. If we 
mean to establish in Italy a Methodism of the Wes- 
leyan type, then it is of the utmost importance that a 
full-blooded Methodist be the editor of that paper, 
and such a one can not be found at present among the 
Italians. It Avill be a long time before he will be 
produced. The editor of that paper has the best oppor- 
tunity of all in Italy to preach the Gospel, and it is a 
great pity that the opportunity is not fitly improved. 
By means of that organ Methodism might be con- 
stantly taught to our people. Some of the members 
of the Conference have been clamoring for a daily 
politico-philosophico-socio-controversio paper with a 
minimum of religion in it, and they say openly, the 
less religion the better. 

We pass over an uneventful year to the Confer- 
ence at Florence in May, 1891. Bishop Walden 
presided. He had visited many of the stations and 
had been with us at the meeting of the Evangelical 
Alliance, held in Florence a month before. He had 
much to say to the Conference, relative to the impor- 
tance of observing Methodist usages, such as kneeling 
in prayer, etc., and inquired why such usages had 
not been observed. Various excuses were given, but 
the real reason was not mentioned. A minister will 
never act like a Methodist until he is a Methodist. If 
he does not believe in our economy and usages he will 
not adopt them, or if he does, only mechanically. We 



Conferences at Bologna and Florence 121 

have no Methodist preachers among the Italians. 
This is why our usages are rejected. Many may say 
in America that certain forms and ways of doing are 
not essential, but we agree with the Bishop that they 
are very important. Leave out the peculiar Avays 
and methods of the Salvation Army and there is no 
reason for its existence as a separate body. Leave 
out the kneeling in prayer, the altar services, the 
protracted revival meetings, the class-meetings, the 
camp-meetings, the responsive ''amens," the ''how 
do you do, brother and sister," the personal testimonies 
and the hearty prayers of the laity, and even if the 
doctrine preached were an echo of John Wesley's, 
there is no Methodism in such a church. Now all 
these things are left out, for the most part, in Italy, 
and, moreover, the doctrines of Wesley are not 
preached, because generally not known. We do not 
believe an audience in the Italy Conference ever heard 
a sermon on the distinctive doctrine of Methodism. 

Two were received into full connection in the Con- 
ference, S. y. Eavi, and Ernesto Fillipini. The latter 
came to us from the Wesleyans with his little church 
at Pa via, consisting of twenty-five members. This 
was with the consent of the Wesleyan authorities who 
had not funds sufficient to maintain all their work. 
This preacher had been for years a Professor in the 
Government Schools, and came to us, as he declares, 
with the express condition that he should be allowed 
to continue in that vocation. He received, as teacher. 



122 The Italy Mission 

a salary of about 1,900 francs from the Government, 
and as preacher 1,400 from the Missionary Society. 
Of course he could do no pastoral work and his time 
and strength were given to teaching. After a few 
months he was called to a professorship in Rome and 
left his charge without consent of the Presiding Elder, 
expecting, moreover, that his salary, as Methodist 
preacher, would be continued, and that some light 
ministerial work would be found for him at Rome. 
Disappointed in this, he withdrew from our Church. 
The little church at Pavia remained for us to support 
and helped to swell the statistics. 

At this Conference the Theological School and the 
School of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 
were targets for criticism. A paper was sent to the 
Conference, signed by all the young theologues, com- 
plaining of three things. (1). The food was not 
satisfactory in quantity or quality. (2). They were 
required to be in the house by 10 o'clock on pain of 
being locked out for the night. (3). They were not 
duly respected by the servant girls. The Committee 
on Education threw aside the complaints as unworthy 
of consideration. As to the first, they had sat at 
the same table with the Director and Professors of 
the School, had eaten much better food than they had 
ever had at their OAvn homes, and had paid therefor 
nothing. As to the second complaint, after repeated 
warnings, they persisted in being late at breakfast 
and out late at night. One day the Director was sick 



Conferences at Bologna and Florence 123 

in bed, and the students, being all very tardy, Avere 
refused breakfast by one of the Professors. They 
''struck" for liberty and absented themselves from all 
recitations that day. They were again warned at 
night to be in at a certain hour. They were all out 
at that hour and consequently had to remain out all 
night, going to a hotel. They thought to appeal from 
the Faculty of the School to the Conference. As to 
the third complaint, they were told that respect could 
be commanded only by showing themselves Avorthy of 
it. If they acted like gentlemen they would be treated 
as such by all. These boys seemed to be somewhat 
ashamed of themselves, after we had explained to 
them the error of their ways, or was it from policy 
that one night at chapel service, soon after, a large 
bouquet was found upon the table with a card on 
which was written, ' 'Al Direttore^ — jper amove f " For 
love I We shall see the depth of their aiFection in 
a subsequent chapter. 

The same complaint about food Avas made concern- 
ing the School of the Women's Foreign Missionary 
Society and later on the Boys' Institute, so called, at 
Rome, raised a rebellion on the same issue. Was 
there eA'er a free Boarding School AA-^here the pupils 
thouD^ht the food AA^as o:ood enouo-h ? These are small 
matters, but they rcAcal character, and shoAv Avhat 
difficulties must be encountered in training up preach- 
ers for Italy. 

We had asked that the Conference meet at Florence 



124 The Italy Mission 

and had looked forward to it as a benefit to the 
School. The result was a sad disappointment. There 
was nothing in the meetings to awaken and intensify 
spiritual desires or to heighten ideals of the ministry. 
On the contrary, the students were drawn into in- 
trigues, and saw and heard much to injure them. We 
saw what we had long suspected, that the influence 
of the Conference members could speedily neutralize 
the effect of all our training in the School. All we 
had said in favor of Methodist usages and of a pro- 
found spiritual life, lost its weight when they saw so 
many practical contradictions in the ministers them- 
selves. It is the task of Sisyphus to train up Meth- 
odist preachers under such influences. We must first 
purge out the old leaven, otheinvise a short experience 
in the Conference will undo largely the work of the 
School. 



CHAPTEE IX 

MINISTERIAL SALARIES 

We now touch the tendon of Achilles, the point 
where the arrow of criticism is mortally felt. The 
fundamental error of the policy thus far pursued in 
Italy is in connection with the question of ministerial 
support. We have been told that under the early 
administration the salaries paid depended mainly upon 
the will of the Superintendent, and this was the best 
and only possible policy in the initiation of our work. 
It gave opportunity also to reward merit and dili- 
gence. After a few years this plan was not satisfac- 
tory to some, and a scale of salaries was fixed upon by 
a committee consistino^ of the two American Presidino^ 
Elders and three Italian preachers, and adopted by the 
Missionary Board. 

The plan of paying all the preachers according to a 
schedule has its objections. In no other employment 
and nowhere else than in the Mission field is a work- 
man paid according to his age and the size of his 
family, but according to the work he does. This is 
God's plan of payment both for this world and for the 
next. Every one according to his works. That a 
weak, lazy, unsuccessful preacher should receive the 



126 The Italy Mission 

same salary as one who is active, able, and successful, 
is not according to nature and justice. A preacher, 
as well as any other workman, will do more and better 
work if he knows the material welfare of his family 
depends upon his activity and faithfulness. The higher 
motive of saving souls and the rewards of the next 
world may be suflftcient stimulus for a few, but such 
motives are not powerful enough in Italy, and they are 
not always sufficient in our own country. Our theory 
of a ''comfortable support" according to the size of 
the preacher's family is a dead letter. The preacher 
in the long run gets paid according to activity and 
success. In the Methodist Church especially there is 
the yearly possibility of going up higher, which acts 
as a powerful stimulus. The principle is a good one 
for both preacher and people, though it may be abused 
by selfish ambition. 

There is no stimulus to ministerial activity in the 
Italian Mission aside from that of conscience. Every 
preacher knows he will have a place so long as he 
manages to avoid expulsion from the Conference, and 
he cares very little whether it be in the city or coun- 
try, since the salary is adjusted accordingly. The 
policy of paying all alike naturally attracts men of weak 
ability and mercenary motive. It is very noticeable 
that since this system was adopted a less able class of 
preachers have sought and found admission to the 
Italy Conference. 

Until 1892 the salaries of preachers in the Italy 



Ministerial Salaries 



127 



Mission were according to the following scale. In 
consequence of our criticisms a slight modification 
was then made, enough to say that there has been a 
change and to provoke some discontent, but not enough 
to remedy the evil. The change reduced the salaries 
of full members of Conference about $25 per annum, 
and each child in stations of first and second classes 
now receives $12 per year less than before. 

System of Salaries — Stations divided into Three Orders. 



To '' Supplies," at the will of 
the Presiding Elder. 

To unmarried men, on ) 1st year 
trial as assistants j 2d *' 

To unmarried men, as 1 1st year 
preachers in charge J 2d ** 

To unmarried members of Con- 
ference 

To unmarried men, seven years 
members of Conference . . 



To married men on 
trial as assistants 



1st year 



j 2d 



To married men as ) 1st year 
preachers in charge J 2d '* 

To married members of Confer- 
ence 

To married men, seven years 
members of Conference . . 

To married men for every child 

For traveling expenses per day, 
railroad fare and .... 

House-rent in addition to this. 



1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


$264 
300 


f288 
336 


$324 
360 


324 
360 


360 
396 


384 
420 


420 


480 


540 


480 


540 


600 


300 
360 


360 
420 


420 

480 


384 
420 


432 
480 


504 
540 


540 


600 


660 


600 


660 


720 


60 


48 


36 


2.00 


1.80 


1.60 



I. 

Rome. 

Milan. 

Geneva. 

Turin. 

Genoa. 

Florence. 

Venice. 

Naples. 

Palermo. 

II. 

Bologna. 

Foggia. 

Pisa. 

Alessandria. 

Perugia. 

Terni. 

Modena. 

Forli. 

Faenza. 

Pontedera. 

III. 

San Marzano. 
Dovadola. 
Melfi. 
Venosa. 



128 



The Italy Mission 



The following table shows the practical application 
of this scale in 1892 in salaries actually received. 



station. Family. 


Salary 


Rent. 


Adria . 


. . Wife, 2 children, . . 


.^504 


$100 


Alessandri 


a . Single, 


480 


Parsonage. 


Bologna . 


. Wife, 


660 


Parsonage. 


Dovadola 


. Wife, 


. 380 


50 


Forli . . 


. Wife, 1 child, . . . 


648 


60 


Florence . 


. Wife, 4 children, . 


. 960 


Parsonage. 


Foggia . 


. Wife, 3 children, . 


. 804 


240 


Genoa . 


. Wife, 5 children, 


960 


600* 


Milan . 


. Wife, 4 children, . 


840 


Parsonage. 


Modena 


. . Wife, 


. 660 


110 


Naples . 


. . Wife, 3 children, . 


. 840 


760* 


Palermo 


. . Wife, 


. 660 


600* 


Pisa . . 


. . Single, 


480 


Parsonage. 


Rome . 


. . Wife, 6 children, 


. 900 


Parsonage. 


(< 


. . Wife, 3 children, . 


. 900 


Parsonage. 


Terni . 


. . Wife, 


. 660 


200 


Turin . 


. . Wife, 3 children, . 


. 780 


Parsonage. 


Venice 


. Wife, ...... 


360 


300* 


Venosa 


. . Wife, 


360 


50 


Perugia 


. Wife, 3 children, . 


804 


Parsonage. 


Geneva 




. 420 
. 360 




Canelli 


. Wife, 


60 


* One la 


rge room is used also for churc 


ih services. 



Now these salaries do not look large from the 
American point of view, and the smaller salaries of 
the " supplies" show how economically our preachers 
can live in Italy. To rightly judge of these salaries 
one needs to know the wages paid in Italy. An 
ordinary farm laborer gets 20 or 30 cents per day ; a 
stone or brick mason 50 or 60 cents ; a male teacher 



Ministerial Salaries 129 

in elementary school 60 cents ; a type-setter 60 or 80 
cents ; clerks and agents in railroad stations and post- 
offices 60 cents per day for the first year, afterward 
from $300 to $500 per year according to rank and 
term of service ; Professors in Oinnasi and Licei 
(which correspond to our high schools and colleges) 
from $300 to $600 per year without house rent and 
without regard to the size of their families. For 
example Lanna, who withdrew from our ministry, now 
receives 2,400 lire ^ $480 per year, as Director and 
Professor in a Technical School. Filippini, who also 
Avithdrew from us, receives in a Ginnasio at Pome 
1 ,920 lire = $384.^ These figures are taken from the 
Government Report. 

Our financial policy appears in clearer light when 
the salaries of our preachers are compared with those 
paid by other Missionary Societies in Italy. We here 
give a comparative Table of Statistics : 

1 A citation from the United States Government Report of 
the Commissioner of Education for 1888-89 confirms the above 
statements. Speaking of education in Italy the Report says: 
'• By a law of 1886 the salaries in the rural schools were to 
range from. ^140 to ^180 for men, and from ^112 to $144 for 
women; in city schools from ^180 to ^264 for men, and from 

$144 to S211 for women The salaries of Professors 

range as follows: Ginnasi, or lower grade classical schools, 
S309 to $386; Licei, or higher grade, $387 to $425. . . . At 
the minor Universities the salaries range from $579 to $694." 
pp. 188, 189. 



130 The Italy Mission 

Annual Salaries Paid by Various Churches in Italy, 



Cities 


State of Family 


la 


CO 

S 


• 

1 


IE 
1^ 


WW 


-a a 

i§ 
1^ 


Rome, Naples, 
















Palermo, 


Single man 


$540 or 600* 


$312 


$480 


$312 




$187 


Florence, Milan, 














800 


Turin, 
Genoa, Venice, 


Married man 


660 or 720* 


'540 


660 


480 


$500 


to 
600 
500 

to 
700 


Geneva, 


with 4 children 


900 or 960* 


750 


756 


624 


620 


Bologna, Pisa, 














Foggia, 


Single man 


480 or 540* 


312 


420 


312 




Perugia, Terni, 














Forli, 


Married man 


600 or 660* 


540 


540 


420 




Modena, Ponte- 










' 




dera, etc.. 


with 4 children 


792 or 852* 


690 


636 


552 




San Marzano, 


Single man 


420 or 480* 


312 


360 


312 




Yenosa, Dova- 
dola, and like 


Married man 


540 or 600* 


540 


480 


360 




small towns, 


with 4 children 


684 or 744* 


690 


576 


480 





* According as the preacher has been more or less than seven j^ears 
a member of Conference. 

In addition to these salaries house rent is paid in 
all cases. For each child our Church allows $36 or 
$48 per year till the child is twenty-one years of age. 
The Wesleyan Church allows $30 (in exceptional 
cases a little more) till the age of twenty. The Bap- 
tists allow $30 till the child is fifteen years old. Our 
German Mission allows nothing for children after the 
age of eighteen. 



Ministerial Salaries 131 

The Wesleyans and Baptists pay the taxes of their 
preachers, which may average $20 per year. The 
Free Church allows from $18 to $24 for fuel in sta- 
tions north of Florence. 

An examination of the foregoing table will show 
that the difference between the salaries of our preachers 
and those of other denominations does not appear so 
distinctly in the smaller stations, but nearly all our 
stations belong to the first or second class and here 
our salaries are from $200 to $300 per annum higher 
than theirs. Reckoning house rent our preachers in 
the larger cities have received more than twice what, a 
College Professor receives in the same city. Can any 
one tell why this should be ? Certainly our preachers 
have no greater learning or ability than they. It has 
been said that the Professors add to their salaries by 
giving private instruction. The amount thus gained 
is not large, and not all Professors have this oppor- 
tunity. The gain Avould not be equal to the house 
rent we pay. Why should our preachers have more 
than those of other denominations ? It has been said 
that we can by this means get better preachers than 
they. This is not true. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church has not done anything in Italy to warrant the 
claim that our preachers are superior to others. The 
natural effect of this financial system is just the oppo- 
site of this claim. The men of mercenary spirit in 
other denominations learn that we '' pay our preachers 
magnificently," as one has said, and hence they seek 



132 The Italy Mission 

admission to our Church, and thus betray their own. 
To our knowledge eight or more preachers of other 
evangelical churches have during the past few years 
sought admission to ours. Seven that we now have 
are transfers of this sort, and with one or two 
exceptions are of no use to us. The only thing that 
attracts them is the larger salary. Let our salaries 
be cut down to the level of the salaries of the Baptist 
Churches for example, and more than half of our 
ministers would leave us at the first good opportunity, 
and this is one of the reasons why we have zealously 
advocated a reduction in salaries. The sooner they 
go the better. 

But it has also been said that the Methodist 
Episcopal Church is great and wealthy, and is abun- 
dantly able to pay her preachers a good salary. No, 
considering the amount of work on hand to be done, 
and the means available to do it, our Church is not 
yet rich and increased in goods and having need of 
nothing. Is our Missionary Society wealthy enough 
to be lavish in her expenditures ? If it had millions 
to spare, it would not be wise to give to a foreign 
Mission any more than is barely sufficient to aid a 
Church struggling toward self-support. No great 
work of God has ever been built up without much 
self-denial, suffering and privation. When our Italian 
preachers are ready to endure the poverty and hard- 
ships of early Methodism in England and America, 
yea, of the Methodism of to-day on the frontier and in 



Ministerial Salaries 133 

the poorer circuits, we shall see different results in 
Italy. We fear that much of the money that has been 
poured into Italy by Protestants of every name and 
land has become unintentionally a corruption fund, to 
lessen personal consecration and lead many to rely on 
human means rather than on divine power. 

One of the evil effects of our bad financial policy 
has been discontent among the preachers of other 
denominations. Rev. Mr. Shaw, who directs the work 
of the Baptists in Rome, wrote us, in response to the 
inquiry whether our larger salaries have a bad effect 
upon the preachers in other Churches, ^' I must answer, 
yes ; I have frequently heard the salaries in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church alluded to in a way that indi- 
cated a not very wholesome state of mind." Rev. Mr. 
Wall of Rome, who directs the work of the English 
Baptists, wrote thus: ''I hope that Bishop Walden 
may give the matter your letter refers to his serious 
attention. I think that other Evangelists are influ- 
enced by the fact that you pay larger salaries to your 
men and I am decidedly of the opinion that this matter 
ought to be one of common accord. Anything you 
may propose in this direction I should sympathize 
with." We know from personal conversation with 
other leaders that they are of the same opinion and 
feeling. Thus it is seen that our financial policy has 
not only been fatal to success in our own Church, but 
has also been a stumbling-block to other denomina- 
tions. 

But the greatest evil of our financial policy is, that 



134 The Italy Mission 

it makes self-support in the Italy Mission forever an 
impossibility. Doubtless it will be admitted by all 
as axiomatic that the aim of all missionary endeavor 
in foreign lands is to build up a self-supporting and 
propagating Christianity. No Mission field can for- 
ever draw funds for its cultivation from another coun- 
try and people. The converts from Paganism and 
Catholicism must be taught as soon as possible that 
the support of their pastors and churches is one of the 
most important Christian duties, as it is one of the 
grandest of privileges to those who have truly received 
the ' ' unspeakable gift." Now a self-supporting Church 
in Italy can never pay its preachers the salaries we 
are paying. The Roman Catholic Church does not. 
To be sure her dignitaries receive large salaries, but 
the common priests are poor and receive but little. 
One, who wrote us asking to be received into the 
School, said that his salary was only $11 per month, 
and that, too, in the city of Rome. No congregation 
will or should pay their preacher a salary two or three 
times as great as that received by the average well-to- 
do family in his flock. When the congregation is 
poor, the preacher, too, must be willing to be poor. 
Otherwise he can do them no good. We have not 
contended for smaller salaries in the Italian ministry 
because we want to impoverish the ministers. Far 
from it. We wish some of them had twice what they 
now receive, if it were possible and wise. We only 
want them to come down somewhere near to the level 
of the people they serve, or at least to a level to which 



Ministerial Salaries 135 

it will be possible to raise the people. From $200 
to $500 per year is all that a self-supporting Church 
in Italy can pay its pastors for a hundred years to 
eonie, with but few exceptions. It is all thousands 
of preachers receive in America, where the cost of 
living is often greater. It is, we are well informed, 
all that many Waldensian pastors receive in the val- 
leys of northern Italy, and we knoAv some Walden- 
sian pastors with families, in large cities, Avho receive 
only $500. 

Some of our preachers do not want a self-support- 
ing Church, and say that they hope they may never 
receive their salaries from the people they serve, for 
then the preachers will be considered the servants of 
the people. It is the old idea of priestly domination, 
an idea that can be worked out of them only by neces- 
sity. Many Avould like to be supported by the State 
if that were possible. While our preachers are re- 
ceiving their present salaries, a poor laborer who has 
only two, three, or four francs a day on which to sup- 
port his family, must think it an absurdity, when he is 
asked to contribute to pay his pastor's salary. 

Look at our India Mission. What folly it Avould 
be to pay to our native preachers the salary of an 
average itinerant in America ! Would we ever reach a 
self-supporting Church on that basis ? It soimds small 
and almost mean when Ave hear that our native 
preachers receive at first an allowance of only $30 
per year.^ But that is the only wise policy. That is 
iSee Gospel in All Lands, Sept., 1892, p. 441. 



136 The Italy Mission 

more than they received before they became preachers, 
and as much as the people can pay who live on less. 
At first this had to come from the Missionary Treas- 
urer, but gradually the converts have been educated 
to contribute this or a greater sum for their pastors. 
If we had adopted the policy in the beginning, and 
continued it, of paying our native preachers in India 
$50 or even $20 per month, the India Mission would 
now be in about the state of our Mission in Italy. 

We were led to the foregoing reflections by the 
request of Bishop Walden to investigate the matter 
and to inform him what salaries were paid by the 
various denominations in Italy. We were so much 
impressed by the importance of the results of our 
investigation, that we sent a report of the same also 
to the General Secretaries of the Missionary Society, 
and received no answer whatever for our pains. One 
of the secretaries has since informed us that he never 
saw the report. The Bishop, however, duly rendered 
thanks, and at the next annual meeting of the Mis- 
sionary Board some resolutions relating to the matter 
were adopted. In our letter to the General Secreta- 
ries, in July, 1891, which contained the substance of 
this chapter, we said : ' ' I have no confidence what- 
ever in the present financial policy of this Mission, 
and cannot consent to waste my life in misdirected 
efforts to build up Methodism here. We must have 
a revolution or abandon the field. I vote for the 
revolution." 



CHAPTER X 

SELF-SUPPORT 

Suppose a home-missionary to go into any town or 
city in New England for the purpose of establishing a 
Methodist Church. He first hires a hall or as large 
a room as he can find in a private house, or he takes 
a large apartment and fits up his parlor as a place of 
religious service. If he is abundantly supplied Avith 
money, he buys an old abandoned church and repairs 
it, or he buys a piece of land and builds a small 
church. In all this business he consults with nobody 
in the town and asks no one for financial assistance. 
After he has secured his hall or church he puts in pews 
or chairs, lamps or gas, pulpit, stove, an organ. Bibles 
and hymn-books, and perhaps a coarse carpet. He 
hires a parsonage and moves in with his family. On 
a certain day he advertises the opening of his church 
by handbills and placards. Everybody is invited to 
come. A few curiosity-seekers drop in and listen for 
a little to see what this new man has to say. For a 
long time no public collection is taken for fear of 
throwinfy a coldness over the meetino^. After a lono^ 
time a collection may be taken on Sunday half-apolo- 



138 The Italy Mission 

getically, the object of which is to assist in defraying 
the expenses of this church, or for the relief of the 
poor. The latter object is dwelt upon more particu- 
larly and frequently. The congregation and com- 
munity meanwhile learn that there is a large and very 
wealthy Missionary Society that has furnished all the 
funds for this movement, and they know the pastor 
will lack no needful thing. He says, in effect, to his 
congregation, ''You contribute what you like to pay 
the expenses of this church, and the Society I repre- 
sent will pay the balance. If any new furnishings 
are needed for the church or Sunday-school, send the 
bill to the treasurer of the Mission." Now what will 
be the natural results ? 

1. The community from the start has no inter- 
est in this new movement. It is a foreign importation 
thrust upon them. They have no part or lot in the 
matter. From curiosity they drop into the church 
now and then, and if the preacher says something in 
harmony with their political views they applaud and 
go again whenever he advertises a semi-political sub- 
ject. If he rebukes their sins and preaches the neces- 
sity of regeneration, the pews are empty. 

2. For the most part, persons of noble character 
and social influence stay away. They don't want 
anything to do with an institution of charity. They 
have too much manly independence. This movement 
does not in any way represent them. 

3. The collections amount to next to nothing. 



Self-Support 139 

They are not sufficient to pay the small current ex- 
penses of the church. As for paying the preacher's 
salary, why should they? He has a sure salary very 
much larger than theirs. They throw into the basket 
the smallest pieces of money coined by the Government, 
more for the appearance of giving something than as 
a glad and conscientious offering. If a subscription 
paper be circulated among the members of such a 
church and congregation, but very few will sign it, 
and from those few who do, it will be about as much 
as it is worth to make the collections. So at least 
the preacher thinks, for no one else has any interest 
in the matter, and he has but little, for the result does 
not effect him. He wants perhaps to make a fair 
appearance in the statistical reports as compared with 
other similar churches, and so tries to raise something. 
4. Of such a church there are of course no 
Trustees and the office of Steward is a nominal one. 
The so-called stewards have no interest in collecting 
money because they feel no responsibility. They will 
come together to talk about who shall be admitted to 
the church, though they generally accept the recommen- 
dation of the pastor as sufficient in this matter. They 
show some interest in the question of the support of 
the poor, and from time to time suggest that the 
Missionary Society should add something to the small 
fund collected among themselves. They get into the 
habit of thinking that the pastor is responsible for his 
flock, and that he must somehow provide for all the 



140 The Italy Mission 

poor and sick and also bury the dead. " What is the 
good of having a church, if its members are to receive 
no material benefit from it? " 

5. A lot of mendicants flock to this church. 
We mean not only beggars but those who have the 
mendicant spirit, who want their religion at the 
cheapest possible figure with a chromo thrown in. 
They are always present at the communion service, for 
then there is a collection for the poor, and they wait 
after the service for the distribution of the money 
received.^ Those who have given a fraction of a 
cent wonder at the smallness of the contribution. 
A crowd of tramps and beggars knock at the pastor's 
door. They expect him to furnish money for all their 
wants. If they don't receive what they ask for, they will 
leave his church and go to another similarly organ- 
ized but more liberal in the distribution of money, 
clothing, and soup. If the pastor says the collection 
for the poor is all exhausted, what is that to them? 
Does he not represent a wealthy Missionary Society, 
and has he not a fine salary ? And so the daughters 
of the horseleach cry '' give, give." They realize 
the blessedness of the inverted motto. 

6. A few good, humble souls attach themselves 
to such a church, if the pastor is at all spiritual. 
They do what they can, and know no better way of 
managing a church. They ''struggle" along, and 
at the end of twenty or one hundred years the condi- 

1 We have seen this done repeatedly in Florence. 



Self-Support 141 

tion of that church is about what it was at the end of 
five years of its existence. The annual report says 
that it is " holding its own " and hoping for a revival. 

7. The members have no love for such a church, 
and are held to it by a brittle thread. It is not really 
their church. They, in a certain sense, belong to 
the church, but the church does not belong to them. 
Any trifling circumstance is enough to sever their con- 
nection with it. With a change of pastors there is 
likely to be a change of congregation and membership. 
The pastor must be worldly in order to be popular. 
To hold or increase his congregation he preaches and 
conducts the affairs of the church in such a way as 
to disturb the prejudices of none. Sin in the concrete 
is not rebuked. The pastor never says, ''Thou art 
the man." Or perhaps, if he is a mere hireling, he 
reasons that his material welfare does not depend 
upon the size of his congregation, and so it is all one 
to him whether the people come to church or stay 
away. If he enters church very late and finds an 
audience of half-a-dozen or less he concludes that it 
is not worth while to preach to them and so has no 
service that day. He is ahvays ready to join another 
denomination if thereby his salary can be increased. 

Now we maintain that such will be the inevitable 
results anywhere upon the face of the earth of a church 
established in the manner supposed. Such a church 
is not a mere idle fancy. We have drawn upon our 
memory for facts rather than upon our imagination. 



142 The Italy Mission 

Such is the Methodist Episcopal Church in Italy, save 
as in a few stations the exceptional character and 
activity of the pastor have made some favorable modi- 
fication of the picture presented. The whole basis is 
unsound. It is an attempt to build up the Kingdom of 
God by a judicious use of money alone, which proves 
to be the most injudicious use to which money can be 
put. The more money employed, the more stations, 
and the more hangers-on, and the greater statistics, 
and the more machinery and the less power from on 
high. 

Now let us imagine a more excellent way. A 
lone itinerant enters a strange village or city. Per- 
haps he has been invited by letter of some one who 
has found Christ or is in search of Him, or he has 
heard that there are those in that place who want 
religious services established, or he reasons on general 
principles that God has not left himself without a wit- 
ness iti any city. He goes hunting for souls. His 
pockets are full of tracts. He converses with as many 
as possible. He inquires if there are any Protestants 
or any who are dissatisfied with the religious state of 
that community. He calls on such, talks and prays 
with them, suggests a prayer-meeting or a preaching 
service. Soon he finds some one who is willing to 
throw open his doors and invite persons thought to be 
in sympathy with the new movement to come in to a 
religious service. Our itinerant talks to them from 
the heart about Christ and the Holy Spirit and the 



Self-Support 143 

joys of salvation. The Spirit always accompanies 
such a message and the people are blessed. The 
audience says, "This is good, why can't we have 
another service and invite our friends and neighbors ? " 
The preacher agrees to be there on a certain day. 
Where shall the service be held? The largest room 
offered in some private house is accepted. The preacher 
does not go to one of the best hotels in town. He does 
not need to. He receives an invitation to lodge in 
some humble apartment, and prefers this, because he 
is with congenial people. Soon the room is altogether 
too small for the audience. What can be done? Can 
we not combine and hire a small hall? A few persons 
are found, who are ready to take the financial respon- 
sibility and make the necessary collections. Then 
the preacher says, ''If I am to serve you, you must 
at least be willing to pay my necessary traveling 
expenses in coming regularly to preach to you, and 
also entertain me at your homes." This they do 
gladly. They also agree to take a collection for him 
every time he comes. He has a large circuit of such 
appointments, and very soon collects enough to pay 
all his expenses. It costs but little to run such a 
church. It somehow or other seems to take care of 
itself. There is no hired janitor to open and shut the 
hall. The brethren take turns in such little offices. 
The hall gets furnished gradually by contributions and 
donations. After a year or two they feel able to buy 
an organ, if some one can be found to play it gratui- 



144 The Italy Mission 

tously. TJicy never think of hiring an organist. So 
the Cliiireh grows. By and by somebody suggests 
the buikling of a church. Can we ever do it? Who 
will help us? Everybody begins to talk about it. 
Then the preacher announces tliat he can secure for 
them an encouraging gift or loan from a Church Aid 
or Missionary Society. This decides tlie question. 
They build the church, contributing what they can 
and soliciting from almost everybody in the town. It 
Is Ihvir churcli. Everybody avIio contributes a cent 
towards its erection feels that lie is a joint-owiuu'. 
All tlie contributors go to that cluirch and are not 
easily driven away from it. None are too poor to 
give something, though it be but two mites. Nobody 
hangs around this church for the loaves and fishes. 
The pastor comes to live with his ])eoj)le. They 
shower gifts upon lilm. Nobody in that church ever 
thinks of asking hivi for money. Is he not the min- 
ister and the disj)enser of the treasures of Heaven to 
them, and shall they not minister to him in material 
things? The Holy (ihost has come to that Church 
and inaugurated the dispensation of liberal giving. 
They love to talk about salvation. The class-meeting 
is a delight. The church is full of exhorters. Sin- 
ners are sought after. Praying-bands and singing- 
bands are formed, and soon the talk is, '' Where shall 
we establisli a mission or a Sunday-school?" 

Can such an ideal be realized? Everybody in 
America will say, "yes." "But America is not 



8ELF-S[;i'i'OitT 145 

Italy, and the conditions therc^ are entirely different." 
W(*ll, that is the way substantially tliat our Methodist 
Conferences liavebeen built up in Germany and Swit- 
zerland. ''But thos(5 are Protestant countries, and 
thant is not the opposition of th(; Papal church." 
Well, that is essentially the plan on whicfi stations 
are being planted in heathen Africa. It was the plan 
of the Apostles in all countries, except that they had 
no Missionary Society to draw from in any case. 
That plan is based upon faith in tlie supernatural 
assistance of thci Holy Spirit, arjd has nevc^r failed 
yet. It will rlo for Italy in all its essentials, and we 
could cite illustrations to prove this. 

A young man convc^rted in Venice returned to his 
native town about fifty miles therefrom to preach to 
his old acquaintances. He was turned away from 
his father's house, and for thirteen months he wandered 
from door to door, sh^eping and eating as Providence 
provided for fiini. lie lield meetings in kitcliens, 
stables, and sometimes in a fi(^ld. He could not preach, 
but he could pray, tell his experience and distribute 
tracts and Bibles. No evangelical pastor had ever 
been in that town. At the end of the thirteen months, 
when he (tnUtrad our Thc^ological ScIjooI, }j(i could 
count about iwcAiiy converts and fifty adherents or 
sympathizers with tlj(i movement. During a summer 
vacation the number was greatly increased, and he 
got many subscribers to our paper, and sold many 
tracts, Bibl(^s and religious books. But the needs of 

10 



146 The Italy Mission 

our work demanded that a " strategic point" should 
be "held," and so he was taken from the School and 
stationed at Venice, where he has not, with good house 
and salary and all the church machinery desired, had 
one quarter of the success he had as an independent 
and moneyless exhorter. Our system has about spoilt 
him. 

Before our Mission took possession of an independ- 
ent church in Rome, its janitor served gratuitously 
for love of the cause. When he with the rest of the 
church became Methodist, he was paid from the Mis- 
sionary Treasury, and soon he was a drunken back- 
slider. The facts suggest a causal connection, but 
possibly his downfall was due to other influences. The 
point vte wish to show is that in Italy it is possible to 
find those who are willing to do something for the 
advancement of the kingdom of God without being 
paid for it. 

In the Free Church every station is required to 
pay all its own current expenses and to contribute 
besides annually $120, $80, $40 or $30 for the sup- 
port of the preacher, according to the grade of the 
station. The preachers are made responsible for the 
collection of these sums, and if they are not collected, 
the loss is theirs. Under such circumstances the 
collections can and will be made. We have repeat- 
edly urged that some similar plan be adopted for our 
stations, requiring them to raise a reasonable sum 
assessed according to the ability of each station, and 



Self-Support 147 

making the pastor financially responsible, but have 
met the objection that our people cannot be compelled 
to give and would in this way be driven to other 
churches. Hence we pass the collection box, and the 
people give according to the impulse of the moment. 
In Florence something was done toward developing 
reo'ular and conscientious contributions. Venice re- 
ports 46 francs collected for the support of the church, 
and 127 francs for the poor. In 1890 there were 
appropriated by the Missionary Society 5,150 francs 
for current expenses of the churches, and 5,117 francs 
were collected for self-support. Thus it is seen that 
the Italy Conference contributes nothing for its preach- 
ers and raises only about half the sum necessary for 
current expenses, i*. e., to pay the janitor, organist, 
etc. It must be remembered, too, that a considera- 
ble portion of this sum is contributed by foreign 
residents and tourists who are connected with or 
friendly to the Mission. In Florence such residents 
contributed more than all the one hundred members 
of the church together, and we think the same may 
be said of Rome and some other places. The statis- 
tics of Florence also include 300 francs received from 
the rent of a small shop that belongs to the Mission- 
ary Society. This and the contributions of foreigners 
must be deducted if we want to find the true financial 
ability or rather generosity of Italian Methodists. 
It will be found on strict comparison that there are 
not so many members of our Church in Italy, nor 



148 The Italy Mission 

are the collections so great, as ten or twelve years 
ago. At this rate of progress when will there be a 
self-supporting Church ? 

The world over this principle holds good in relig- 
ious as in other affairs, that people will not pay for 
anything more than is asked for it, unless they are 
impelled by the Spirit, who in that case is the collector 
and demands alL Voluntary contributions, without 
any urging, work beautifully in a church where there 
is a constant revival spirit. If this be lacking, the 
people must be exhorted to bring all their tithes into 
the store-house before the flood-gates of Heaven can 
be opened and the blessing outpoured. What costs 
nothing is worth nothing, and persons really converted 
may lose their appreciation of the blessings of salva- 
tion, if they are not asked to share the burdens as 
well as the privileges of the Church. Not the least 
of the evils of our financial system in Italy is that it 
tends to diminish piety and to develop a selfish depend- 
ence upon others. The collections in Macedonia 
benefited those churches more than they did the poor 
saints at Jerusalem. 

" That whicli the fountain sends forth returns again to 
the fountain." 

In view of the pressing needs of the world every 
convert from Paganism or Catholicism should be con- 
strained, yea, a necessity should be laid upon him, to 
give and to do all that is possible for the advance- 
ment of Christ's kingdom. Where this is not done 



Self-Support 149 

will always be found a church that hath a name that 
it liveth, but is dead. We recall the testimony of 
Mr. Wishard, delegate of the Young Men's Christian 
Association to make a tour of the world. In con- 
versation Avith us he said that wherever he found a 
self-supporting Mission or one tending toward self- 
support, he found spiritual prosperity, and in such 
Missions only. 

Somehow our Italian preachers and members must 
be disabused of the notion that they are helping the 
Missionary Society to establish the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church in Italy, and the opposite notion must be 
implanted, that the Missionary Society sends men and 
money to help them re-establish a primitive Christian- 
ity. Under the influence of the former notion they 
want to be paid for every Christian service, and the 
object is to gain adherents. Our portinaio ^ or janitor, 
at Milan does something also in the way of distribut- 
ing Bibles and tracts, and receives therefor house rent 
and 80 francs per month. He wanted an increase of 
salary and gave to us this reason for the same, " I get 
a good many to join your religion." When professedly 
Christian women have been asked to do some religious 
service in the way of visitation or seeking children for 
the Sunday-school, they have replied, "The Bible 
woman is hired to do that service. Pay us and we 
will do it." A preacher leaves his charge and is 
absent three days, to baptize the child of a friend. 
The bill for traveling expenses is seventy francs and is 



150 The Italy Mission 

paid by the treasurer of the Mission. Another preacher 
sends in a bill of ninety francs for medical attendance, 
alleging that his wife's ill health is caused by the 
dampness of the house furnished by the Missionary 
Society as a parsonage. The real cause of the sick- 
ness appeared a few months later in an increase of 
family. These and many similar occurrences grow 
out of the idea that they are at work for the Mission- 
ary Society, and not that the Missionary Society is at 
work for them. Some plan should be adopted whereby 
the amount appropriated to each station should be 
dependent on the amount raised by the station itself for 
self-support. All money should be given as help and 
not as pay. Methodist ministers are not paid. That 
is not our theory of ministerial support. A ''com- 
fortable support " means generally such a support as 
the people feel disposed to give the preacher. If the 
Missionary Society adds anything to this either in 
America or in foreign lands, it should be considered by 
the minister and people as a benefaction, donated by 
benevolent contributors, precisely as the Macedonians 
sent offerings to Paul. The Apostle never supposed 
he was getting a salary for his ministerial services. 
The opposite theory prevails in Italy. The Mission- 
ary Society pa^/s the preachers, and the people served 
give their benefactions to the Missionary Society. 
Many seem to think they are doing us a favor when 
they join our church. The system that has developed 
and fostered such notions is evidently wrong. The 



Self-Support 151 

only way to correct these errors is to adopt a different 
financial policy. 

There is a good deal yet to be learned about self- 
supporting Missions. This term as applied to the 
work in Africa may not be strictly accurate, but it 
expresses a difference in financial policy that is of the 
utmost importance. It throws the moral responsi- 
bility of support upon the people who receive the 
services of the preacher, and lays a basis on which 
converts can be educated to put into practice the prin- 
ciple of self-support. When the people realize that 
they are being helped to do a work that belongs to 
them as a duty to do, they will be grateful and show 
their gratitude by accepting as little help as is abso- 
lutely necessary. We do not contend for an absolutely 
self-supporting Mission at present either in Italy or 
Africa. Some stations could soon be put upon that 
basis, and this ought to be constantly set before the 
people as the goal of their endeavors. God helps 
those who help themselves, and the Missionary Society 
would do well to adopt the divine policy. There is a 
limit to His kindness to the unthankful. Even when 
the value of a thing is appreciated, people will not 
pay for it, if it is offered as a gift, and the fact that 
it costs nothing tends to lessen the appreciation of its 
value. Some in all lands want a " free Gospel," 
Avithout money and without price. This means a 
Gospel that is free to them because somebody else has 
been generous enough to pay for it on their behalf. 



152 The Italy Mission 

We do not expect unconverted heathen or unconverted 
Catholics to support a preacher till they have learned 
to appreciate his message, but we do expect church 
members and those who ask for a preacher to take 
upon themselves some share of the responsibility of 
his support. Twenty years or more of assistance 
from abroad ought to be enough to put some churches 
at least on a self-supporting basis. Our Missionary 
Society has spent $700,000 in Italy, and we have 
not a church that does more than pay its current 
expenses. Every preacher we have in Italy draws 
his full salary from America. How long must this 
continue ? 



CHAPTEE XI 

TRAIXmG or XATIYE PREACHERS 

The mauguration of the Theological School was 
an attempt to build a pyramid by beginning at the 
apex. It had no basis in preparatory schools, and in 
all the Methodist churches there was not one young 
man properly prepared by age, experience, piety and 
education for admission to such a school. The Wal- 
densians have been centuries in laying foundations 
and have a constituency of 30,000 and good prepara- 
tory schools, yet during thirty-five years of its existence 
in Florence their Theological School has graduated 
only an average of two every year. It was thought that 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in Italy, with a mem- 
bership of less than a thousand and no schools, could 
produce as many ministers as were desired, almost to 
order, ^ow a good many men have to be educated 
to find a preacher. Even in Italy God does not call 
all impecunious young men to the ministry, and the 
only way at present to find out whether a young man 
is called to the ministry or not, is to take him into 
the Theological School and watch him a while. If 



154 The Italy Mission 

the ministers and Quarterly Conferences could be 
trusted in their judgments as to the fitness of young 
men for the ministry, it would be better to test the 
"gifts, grace and usefulness" of young men by em- 
ploying them as exhorters a year or more before 
receiving them into the Theological School. This is 
the plan adopted in Germany and it works well, 
because the preachers in charge of the various stations 
have the right ideal of a Methodist preacher. But it 
has been found in Italy that our preachers Avill recom- 
mend any sort of a young man as a candidate for the 
ministry. The only way to find out the true character 
of the candidate is to live with him a few months or a 
year. The School is the only proper test at present. 
The result necessarily will be that only a small part 
of those admitted to the School will be graduated and 
admitted to the ministry. A careful, wise, and more 
extended supervision of the stations by American 
Presiding Elders would doubtless diminish greatly the 
number of unAvorthy students admitted to the School ; 
still with all proper and possible caution some black 
sheep will get into the fold. 

It would be far better to do this testing of character 
and fitness in preparatory schools. What would our 
School of Tlieology in Boston do if it were backed by 
a Methodist membership of less than a thousand and 
had not only no colleges, but also no Conference Semi- 
naries, no schools of any kind? A Theological School 
would be a misnomer in such a case. The only thing 



Training of Native Preachers 155 

possible would be the establisliment of a training 
school for Christian workers, with instruction suited 
to the mental and spiritual capacity and attainments of 
the few young men that might be found, and practice 
almost every night in the week and on Sundays to 
determine whether they were really called of God to 
the ministry. This was our ideal of what ought to 
be in Italy, but the "powers that be" determined to 
have a Faculty of live Professors and to introduce 
Hebrew and all the studies of a long-established School 
of Theology. Hence much hard labor Avas expended 
on young men Avhose immature and uneducated minds 
were not fitted to grasp the problems put before them. 
To be sure they all felt more than equal to the tasks 
assigned, and those who were the youngest and 
least capable were puffed up with pride and thought 
themselves able to instruct the Professors. By fre- 
quent weeding and by experimenting with ncAV cases 
we had, in 1892, found about a dozen young men 
who, we tried to believe, and sometimes we succeeded 
in the effort, were promising candidates for the 
ministry. 

We shall never forget the visit of Bishop Vincent 
and Dr. Hurlbut in the autumn of 1891. They spent 
over a week with us and repeatedly addressed the 
School. The Bishop wanted some information about 
the students, etc., for publication, and we furnished 
the same in writing. It appeared over the Bishop's 
signature in the New York Christian Advocate sub- 



156 The Italy Mission 

stantiallj as we gave it. We here quote from his 
article : 

I sit in the study of Dr. E. S. Stackpole, on the third floor 
of our Methodist Episcopal headquarters for Florence. It is 
a large, well-built house, on Via Lorenzo il Magnifico, Numero 
24. We rent it. One day, the good Lord allowing and lead- 
ing, we shall own a great central building in Rome for our 
theological and other schools, our publishing department, 
and our church services in Italian and in English. But now 
we are in the president's study. It isp?'o tem. the class-room 
of systematic theology. Three young men are seated at a 
round table in the center of the room. They are lightly built, 
agile, keen, alert; blacjv hair, black eyes, dark complexion, 
children of the sun, sons of Italy. How rapidly their pens 
glide over the page as they take down the lecture of the presi- 
dent on the " Church as a Holy Institution." He asks : " What 
is a holy church?" *'How is its holiness in doctrine, spirit, 
and life to be maintained?" He answers these questions. 
They write as he reads. They are interested. They have 
already enjoyed educational advantages in the excellent 
national schools of Italy. They were born after the Pope's 
power waned. Boys are educated now in Italy. When Victor 
Emmanuel entered Rome two decades ago seventy-five or 
eighty per cent, of the population were illiterate. The new 
regime, which the pope seeks to overthrow, has reduced the 
percentage to forty-two. A great gain ! Those three students 
in Dr. Stackpole's class are from the '* Gymnasium," or 
** Lyceum," and are good Italian scholars. They are picked 
men. They are young men. They are Methodists in theory 
and experience and choice. They represent the men who are 
to spread over Italy the doctrines and life which God has 
appointed our Church to preach. 

The Theological School has been in existence two years 
and a half. It has a dozen students; about the same number 
as the School of the Waldensians, which has been in Florence 
for thirty-six years. This dozen has been selected out of fifty- 
six applicants for admission. Nine others have been on trial 



Training of Native Preachers 157 

for a time in the school, and dismissed as lacking the intel- 
lectual or moral qualifications for the ministry. The admin- 
istration proposes to retain no young man who does not give 
promise of becoming a winner of souls. This school and the 
Conference in Italy will not be an asylum for those who find 
themselves for any cause out of employment. 

Of the twelve students now in attendance, four are gradu- 
ates of the Lyceum, which is equivalent to the American 
college. Two others have passed through the Gymnasium; 
that is, are ready to enter the sophomore class in America. 
Another, who was until recently a Roman monk, has had two 
years in philosophy and four in theology in the Roman Church. 
The rest have had the instruction given in the public schools 
in the technical course. The age of these students varies 
from eighteen to twenty-six years. The average age is about 
twenty-two. They come from all over Italy. Venosa, the 
birthplace of Horace, sends a representative. Genoa sends 
another, who has had, in addition to the studies of the 
Lyceum, three years of medicine in the university, and can 
speak the modern Greek. One is the son of our preacher at 
Naples. From Turin comes a fine young man of Waldensian 
family who speaks French, and is carrying on a course of 
study in the university in addition to his work in the Theo- 
logical School. The son of the Wesleyan Minister at Milan 
has just asked for admission. In addition to the twelve 
young apostles now in the school, an ex-monk under training 
for the Baptist ministry comes in as a day scholar, taking a 
special course of study. 

The students preach occasionally in Florence or at a station 
not far distant, and have done good work during the summer 
vacation as assistants in several stations. The course of study 
is about the same as in the usual theological seminary with 
the addition of English. Before graduation all will be able 
to read readily our English theological literature, and some 
will be able to speak the language. A few show remarkable 
facility in acquiring it. 

Dr. Stackpole, who is an intense believer in the naost 
intense type of Methodism, and a loving disciple of the wise 



158 The Italy Mission 

and devout Daniel Steele, labors most faithfully to promote 
the spiritual life, to train the heart and conscience. He 
endeavors to interpret the most practical and experimental 
portions of Scripture in the every-day chapel service at 5 p.m., 
and in the students' class-meeting on Saturday night. One 
of the most refreshing religious meetings I have attended for 
years was this same Saturday evening class. The experiences 
of the young brethren, which were translated for me by Dr. 
Stackpole, had the true ring and filled me with large hope 
for our work in Italy. Dr. Stackpole says that '' the material 
we now have to make Methodist preachers of is as promising 
as any average dozen that might be chosen from Drew Semi- 
nary or Boston Theological School." 

Now one reading that description of our Theo- 
logical School would naturally conclude that we had 
a remarkable set of young men, and so they were. 
All that was published was true, and a better company 
of young men cannot be gathered into our School in 
Italy under present conditions. We go further and 
record our conviction that it will be impossible to 
gather so good and promising a company of young 
men as candidates for the ministry in Italy for many 
years to come. We searched the land through and 
got all that were at all hopeful cases. But in the 
report given above there are a great many things 
unsaid. There is no mention made of the instability 
of Italian moral and religious character. Piety is 
superficial in Italy. There is momentary enthusiasm 
and emotion, but religion does not reach down into 
the conscience and get a firm grip. Nothing is said 
in the report about habits of deceitfulness, nor of our 
constant fears that these nice young men would aban- 



Training of Native Preachers 159 

don the ministry and the Methodist Episcopal Church 
whenever they thought they could improve their con- 
dition by so doing. Moreover, the report is not a full 
one because we were ignorant of some things learned 
later. We now complete the report. 

The Bishop admired especially a young man who 
had just entered the School. He was very quiet and 
studious, better educated than any other student. All 
passed on beautifully for some months, and hopes ran 
higher than ever for the prosperity of the School. 
One day the room-mate of this young man came to 
us with the most startling revelations and accusations. 
This quiet youth, he said, was a rascal of the deepest 
dye, in correspondence with a Jesuit official. He was 
guilty of all manner of iniquity. The Faculty were 
astounded. We had not seen any indications of such 
a character, and, moreover, we had had complete 
confidence in his accuser. Of course there was an 
investigation. The accuser and the accused were 
brought face to face, and at the first interview we 
began to suspect that the former was the rascal and 
sought to conceal his own bad character by accusing 
his companion. Continued investigation confirmed 
this suspicion, and facts subsequently made known 
demonstrated the innocence of the person accused. 
But the accuser had told his story to the other students 
before informing the Faculty, and so they were preju- 
diced against the accused. Indignant virtue asserted 
her claims. They demanded the immediate expulsion 



160 The Italy Mission 

of the accused, and when the Faculty replied that this 
could not be done without great injustice, that the 
case was a complicated one and needed further inves- 
tigation, that a little patient waiting would determine 
who the guilty party was, they would not wait a 
moment, but at once sent in a paper previously con- 
cocted and signed by every one except the accused and 
another who at that time was absent from the city. 
"In view of the strange indecision of the Faculty," 
and the manifestly unworthy character of the accused 
they felt conscientiously compelled to leave the School. 
This burst of righteous indignation rather pleased us. 
It showed at least that conscience had been sufficiently 
awakened to despise and frown upon the sin of others, 
which demands, however, not a very high state of 
moral cultivation but is better than indifference to 
wrong-doing. Of course their ''resignation" was 
immediately accepted, and they were ordered to leave 
at the earliest moment possible. This rather surprised 
them. Like sophomores in an American college 
they thought to frighten the Faculty into compliance 
with their wishes. Soon some began to reconsider. 
The result was that four students remained and the 
rest went home, among them two who would have 
graduated after two months more. They whispered 
abroad their expectation of having a new Faculty. 
Immediately they began to telegraph and write to 
parties in America, whose support they confidently 
expected. Their expectation was neither unfounded 
nor unrewarded. 



Training of Native Preachers 161 

After the agitated waters began to subside, it was 
found that considerable sand and dirt had been cast 
up. We discovered that every one of these students 
except the one accused had been secretly breaking the 
rules of the School, by going to the theatre once, twice 
or thrice, by getting out or in at the window late at 
night, by improper associations, etc. The accuser 
especially was found to have had a very bad record, 
and his subsequent history leads us to class him 
among religious tramps. By borrowing and begging 
he managed to get first to Switzerland and later to 
London, where he is said to have united Avith the 
Salvation Army. Within two years he was back 
again in Italy, and just now we have received a letter 
from him, in which he asks forgiveness for his part 
in the wicked plot, and declares that the students 
would not have acted as they did, if they had not 
been encouraged by members of the Conference who 
Avere unfriendly to the School or Faculty. The young 
man accused afterward came to America. Nothing 
has ever been found against his character. He is 
now a student in the School of Theology of Boston 
University, highly commended by the Professors for 
scholarship and Christian conduct. He is preaching 
every week to Italian and to French congregations. 

The amount of ingratitude and presumption dis- 
played by some of these students was amazing. They 
considered themselves under no obligations to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church for having received their 

11 



162 The Italy Mission 

education at her expense, and said plainly that their 
time spent at the School was an equivalent for all 
received. Some declared their readiness to abandon 
Methodism and at once sought admission to other 
denominations. Failing this, some drifted into what- 
ever employment they could find. We found they had 
no love for Methodism, for which we could not much 
blame them, since the so-called Methodism of Italy 
has manifested few amiable qualities. We did hope 
to create an ideal Methodism in their hearts by the 
study of our history and doctrines and by spiritual 
culture. The effort was not very successful. The 
ministry was for the most of them too much a com- 
mercial affair. A position with a salary seemed to 
be the main issue. There were some exceptions. 
In the plot to break up the School some were deceived 
and led on by two or three of corrupt mind. Some 
we had loved and cared for for three years, and we 
built high hopes upon them. We do not forget the 
tears of gratitude in the eyes of more than one who 
thanked us for instruction and for favors received. 
Our labor was not Avholly in vain in the Lord. We 
recall occasions in the School when the presence and 
power of the Holy Spirit were felt in a most gracious 
manner, and we cannot think that all our prayers 
and counsels and instructions Avere for naught. Let 
us hope that some of these boys will by and by become 
men, having grown up into '' the measure of the stat- 
ure of the fulness of Christ." 



Training of Native Preachers 163 

The whole affair gave us deeper insight into Italian 
character. Young men in Italy develop earlier than 
in America. A youth of seventeen may appear a 
phenomenon of brilliancy and mental ability, in ad- 
vance of most American young men of twenty-one. 
But at twenty-iive or thirty the American young man 
would generally be far ahead in power of thought and 
stability of character. The Italian has more brilliancy 
than depth, more language than thought, more emo- 
tion than purpose, more zeal than perseverance. His 
head may be converted to Christianity, while his 
heart remains essentially heathen. An outward show 
of religion takes the place of an inward principle, and 
this often without hypocrisy. 

How often we have called to mind what Bishop 
Thoburn has related of his early experience in India, 
especially the account of that good young man who 
came to study with him for the ministry. He placed 
great hopes upon him and thought he had found a 
jewel, when one day a police officer arrived to arrest 
the young man for murder. He had run away from jus- 
tice and thouo^ht to conceal himself under the o^arb of 
a preacher. We did not have any candidates for the 
ministry quite so bad as that. Some were good boys 
and in America would make acceptable and useful 
preachers. In Italy we cannot prophesy what the 
result will be. There are too many corrupting influ- 
ences. We remember, too. Bishop Thoburn' s search 
in America for missionaries for India, and how he 



164 The Italy Mission 

sifted down one hundred applicants to two and finally 
lost one of these. Let none, then, be surprised if all 
of the candidates for the ministry in Italy do not turn 
out well. Good, devoted, conscientious, true, able 
and educated young men are not so easily found, even 
in America. 

We wish here to record our appreciation of the 
kindness and sympathy of the Faculty of the School. 
The utmost harmony prevailed. Every action was 
unanimous. The Italian Professor was appointed to 
the chair of Greek and Hebrew Exegesis not at my 
suggestion, yet we labored in union, and he did his 
work faithfully and well, considering all the circum- 
stances. He had too much to do, and the students 
were not prepared to appreciate the studies pursued. 
Hence, encouraged by some critics in the Conference, 
they affected also to criticise his work, but it was the 
captious criticism of the ignorant. We are glad to 
say that during the last year of the School there was 
one little company in Italy who could work in com- 
plete harmony. 

Partly in consequence of the disturbance above 
mentioned it was decided to discontinue the Theolog- 
ical School in Florence. A year later an attempt was 
made to establish a similar school in Rome. It has 
three students. One is a converted monk who was with 
us one year at Florence. The second is an ex-priest 
who was rejected by the unanimous vote of the Fac- 
ulty at Florence after he had lived in the house with 



Training of Native Preachers 165 

us two weeks. He lacked, we judged, mental capac- 
ity. The third has also been preparing for the priest- 
hood. Our past experience with ex-priests leads us 
to hope for but little from the present theologues at 
Rome. An excellent man is at the head of the school, 
who will succeed if anybody can, but the conditions 
are such that failure is almost certain. If a Prepar- 
atory School shall be developed, then after ten years 
a Theological School will be a possibility. 



CHAPTER XII 

EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

For twenty years or more it has been the policy 
of several Missionary Societies in Italy to establish 
Elementary Schools in connection with many of their 
stations, and in a few places schools of higher grade. 
Our Society has not adopted this policy till within six 
years. We now have day schools for children in half 
a dozen towns and cities and some evening schools for 
young men. It has been found that the success of 
these schools depends mainly upon the preacher in 
charge. A few preachers are adapted to that kind of 
work and enter into it with enthusiasm. Their suc- 
cessor cares nothing for the school and perhaps desires 
to minify or destroy the work of his predecessor. So 
the school runs down and becomes worthless. The 
Minutes of 1891 report a school at Palermo of four 
teachers and ninety-five scholars. A few months later 
there was no school at all. Pontedera reported three 
teachers and one hundred and sixty-eight scholars in 
the day and evening schools. There were a few 
months later only thirty in the day school, and the 
evening school was discontinued. The same school 



Educational Policy 167 

now has eighteen scholars. It was found that this 
school, that at first promised so much, was really a 
failure and of no advantage to our missionary w^ork. 
It w^as a free school and attracted the least hopeful 
class. So two of the teachers were removed to Pisa, 
and a school of a little higher grade w^as opened there, 
with a small tuition fee. It is too early to state the 
results. There is the same difficulty with the schools 
as with the churches. As the latter have been planted 
without properly prepared preachers, so the former 
have no teachers that are devoted to missionary w^ork. 
From the Waldensians and Wesleyans we have ob- 
tained for the most part the teachers employed. It is, 
for those who know^ not the causes, surprising how 
few Christian workers of any sort our Church has 
developed in Italy. Other denominations have sup- 
plied us all along. 

The Elementary Schools are only experiments. 
No one of them is established on a permanent basis, 
and they are in danger of vanishing aw^ay with the 
first change of pastor. It was thought that by getting 
the children into our schools the parents could be 
drawn into our church services, but the results in 
this direction have not been encourao^ino:. As soon 
as the children are able to earn a few cents per day, 
they are put to work, and we see them no more. We 
are convinced that free schools in Italy will be of no 
benefit to us. There are good public schools in all 
places of importance, and we cannot compete with 



168 The Italy Mission 

them. We cry out in America against the policy of 
the Roman Catholics in removing their children from 
the public to their ecclesiastical schools, yet in Italy 
we are trying to inaugurate the same policy. To be 
sure we are not yet clandoring for a division of the 
Public School Fund, but if we were as numerous in 
Italy as the Catholics are in America, would we not 
demand it? 

A far better policy would be to establish a few 
schools of higher grade in important cities, schools 
adapted to boys and girls from twelve years of age 
upward, in fact something corresponding to our High 
Schools or Conference Seminaries. Such a school 
should develop, after a few years, into a college. The 
corresponding terms in Italy would be a Ginnasio and 
a Liceo, There should be a respectable tuition fee, not 
less than is demanded by public and similar private 
schools. The number of free scholarships should be 
very limited, otherwise it would be in danger of 
becoming merely a charity school. The High Schools 
for boys and for girls at Smyrna, conducted by the 
American Board, are wisely managed. The first has 
ninety, the second one hundred pupils. The Boys' 
School has nine teachers. The tuition for nine months 
is $20. Board and tuition for the same time $100. 
There are no free pupils. Five languages are taught. 
All instruction is given in English as soon as that 
language has been learned. We found that the same 
rules prevail in Robert College, Beirut College and 



Educational Policy 169 

in the large School of the Presbyterians at Cairo. 
In all these English is the basis of instruction, and 
tuition is well paid for, so that the schools can be put 
upon a self-supporting basis. 

Some steps have been taken toward the founding 
of a school at Rome. A very fine lot of land has 
been purchased in one of the best parts of the city, 
and the plan is to erect a large building upon it. 
Indeed the corner-stone is already laid. The lot cost 
$40,000 and $100,000 are asked for to erect the build- 
ing. It is designed to serve not only for a school 
of high grade, but also for a Theological School, 
Publishing House, apartments for preachers and Pro- 
fessors, and a church. Whether all these can wisely 
be combined under one roof is questionable. The 
location is good for a Oinnasio or Liceo^ if day 
scholars are desired. For boarding pupils a location 
a little way outside the walls with plenty of land for 
playgrounds, etc., would be preferable. For a church 
the location is not nearly so good as Piazza Poli, 
which has been abandoned. It is surrounded by 
Government offices and the houses of the wealthy. 
The church, we fear, will be little more than a chapel 
for the schools. We ought to have at Rome a great 
institution of learning, that would become for Italy 
what Robert College is for Bulgaria and Turkey. 
The foundation has not been laid for it, yet this present 
enterprise, if rightly planned and managed, promises 
better results than anything thus far attempted by the 



170 The Italy Mission 

Missionary Society in Italy. If all the money spent 
for the first ten years had been put into such an 
Institution, we should have saved what now has been 
squandered. To develop such a school there ought 
to be now in training several Americans of the best 
ability. The Italian teachers suited to such a school 
must be educated by the school itself. They can not 
be found at present. If special attention were given 
to modern languages, and English were the basis of 
instruction, there are a large number of wealthy and 
influential families in Rome that would prefer such a 
school to any now existing in that city. 

The policy first advocated was to establish simply a 
boarding-house or Home for children and youth and 
send them to the public schools for instruction. This 
was the ideal some had of a great Methodist Institu- 
tion at Rome. On this basis was begun what is called 
a "Boys' Institute," which according to the Gospel in 
All Lands of July, 1892, has eighty pupils. Doubtless 
this was a typographical error, but we looked in vain 
for its correction in subsequent issues. There were in 
reality only eight boys, ranging in age from ten to 
eighteen, three of whom had to be expelled for stealing. 
Several were charity pupils. Latest reports say the 
number is now about twenty. The Missionary Society 
rents and furnishes a house for them and hires a man 
to take care of them in the Home. They go to the 
public schools for instruction. To advertise this as 
a school is evidently misleading. To make it a school 



Educational Policy 171 

in reality will require a considerable endowment for 
professorships. » It may develop into a school in the 
future, but thus far it has been little more than a char- 
ity boarding-house, and was advertised as a "semi- 
gratuitous" institution. 

This word semi-gratuitous, with the emphasis on 
the last part of the compound, expresses the present 
policy of the administration. Everything must be 
furnished either for nothing or for less than cost. This 
is the shortest way to apparent success. A semi- 
gratuitous school will attract a certain class of pupils, 
who will be glad to have a furnished room in Rome, 
board, and instruction in English and French for thirty 
francs or six dollars a month. The furnished room 
alone is worth that. The instruction in English and 
French cannot elsewhere be obtained for thirty francs 
per month. In the best Boy's School at Florence the 
tuition fee alone is thirty-five francs per month. This 
is precisely the source from which the school should 
expect its revenues. The board alone costs thirty 
francs or more. But we must adopt a policy that 
will attract a large number of pupils at once, no mat- 
ter what it costs. Our paper, the Evangelista^ too, 
must be published at half what it would cost if there 
were 5,000 subscribers. Sixty cents a year for an 
eight-page weekly ! When shall we have, as in Ger- 
many, a self-supporting paper at this rate ! Some 
writer from Rome in the Christian Advocate says our 
Italian papers are now paid for by funds raised in 



172 The Italy Mission 

Italy, and in another column of the same Advocate 
was published a request asking for a grant of $700 
from the Tract Society for our publishing interests in 
Italy. Let none be deceived. All moneys collected from 
subscribers to our paper in Italy and for sale of books 
have never yet paid the cost of the blank paper and 
printer's ink. American contributors in one way 
or another pay the bills. Books are sold at half the 
cost of publication. This destroys all hope of an inde- 
pendent business in the future. It sounds very well 
when Missionary orators tell us of a great Publishing 
House in Rome that will soon be scattering Bibles over 
the land. The fact is that all papers and books that 
the Methodist Episcopal Church now prints in Italy 
or will need to print for many years to come could be 
published at half their present cost, if the authorities 
were less ambitious to have a Publishing House all 
our own and would employ some Italian firm to do all 
but the literary work. As for Bibles there is no prob- 
ability that one will ever be issued by the Methodist 
Press of Italy, since the great Bible Societies of New 
York and London can publish Bibles in Italian so 
much cheaper and better. The British and Foreign 
Bible Society now has forty colporteurs distributing 
Bibles throughout Italy. 



CHAPTER XIII 

DIFFICULTIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS 

It has been told that when the establishment of 
the Italy Mission was under discussion, as it was for 
many years, the old sage. Dr. Curry, said, ''I have 
little confidence in the Latin races." He spoke of 
course from a religious point of view, and certainly 
the history of those races does not justify us in build- 
ing great hopes upon them as promoters of pure and 
evangelical religion. It is the custom to say that 
Catholicism has shaped the religious character of the 
Italians, French and Spaniards, but is it not as true 
that the people have shaped the Catholic Church? 
The influence is reciprocal. The Gospel when wielded 
by the Holy Spirit has power to transform the national 
as well as individual character. Indeed the former 
necessarily results from the latter, but in a time of 
spiritual decline the national spirit reacts upon its 
religious faith and cultus and gradually develops a 
religion suited to its tastes and genius. It is often 
said that Catholicism has cauterized the national con- 
science of Italy. When did it do this? Was the 
conscience of Italy any more awakened and tender in 



174 The Italy Mission 

the sixteenth century, or in the tenth, or fifth, than 
to-day ? Has it not always been essentially heathen ? 
Before the alliance of Church with State and the 
gradual absorption of the latter in the former, the 
power of the Spirit transformed the heathen into a 
Christian conscience. Since the third century with 
few exceptions the masses have been converted by 
wholesale, or by the magic touch of water in infant 
baptism. Brought up to believe that they have no 
need of regeneration they remain heathen under the 
forms of a Christian civilization. The Church has 
become what such civilized heathen want it to be. 
They want a Church that has power on earth and 
in Purgatorio to forgive sins. They want a Church 
that can save them without the necessity of thorough 
repentance on their part and corresponding reforma- 
tion of conduct. To have such a Church they must 
give to the priesthood great power, and as a recom- 
pense they cast individual responsibility for the most 
part upon those who have the cure of souls. To be 
sure they have not always relished, and especially 
since the unification of Italy, the tyrannical exercise 
of priestly power in affairs that pertain to this life. 
There has always been but little opposition to leaving 
the affairs of the next life to the decision of ' ' Holy 
Mother Church." It is so much easier to shirk all 
unpleasant responsibility. 

The forms of worship of the Roman Catholic 
Church, its processions, vestments, images, incense 



Difficulties and Encouragements 175 

and mass, are all outgrowths of national character 
and date from long before Christ. Her music, paint- 
ing, sculpture and architecture are all in harmony 
with the genius of a people who prefer the outward 
and the sensuous to the inward and spiritual. The 
Roman Catholic Church everywhere is essentially 
Italian, the outcome of baptized Roman paganism. 
Talk about Americanizing the Catholic Church in the 
United States I When that is done, it will be no 
lono^er Roman Catholic. The whole orocanization all 
over the world is the result of a propagation of Italian 
ideas, manners, tastes, etc., in matters of religion. 
The church is a great deal more Roman than Catholic. 
This is true especially since the time of the German 
Reformation. Since then Italy has ruled the Church. 
All the Popes for three hundred years have been 
Italians. The great majority of the Cardinals have 
always been and still are Italians, and nothing short of 
a national revolution, that shall drive the Pope out 
of Rome and overthrow Catholicism in Italy, as it 
was overthrown in England and Germany, will do 
away with the Italian character of the Roman Catholic 
Church. We repeat that it is truer that the Italians 
have made the Church than that the Church has made 
the Italians. 

Why did not the Reformation of the sixteenth 
century take root in Italy ? The Italian Protestants 
of the present are in the habit of excusing their ances- 
tors by saying that the Protestants of that age in Italy 



176 The Italy Mission 

had not the protection of any powerful princes like 
Henry the Eighth. It is true that thousands of Italian 
Protestants suffered martyrdom or were driven into 
exile, but these were the exceptions. There was no 
great movement among the people, and there were 
but few leaders of profound religious conviction and 
spiritual poAver. It is not in the genius of the Anglo- 
Saxon peoples to content themselves with superficiality 
in religion any more than in other things. They 
have too much hard sense to accept the dogmas of 
Catholicism and too much rough sincerity to allow 
their consciences to be quieted by outward ceremonies. 
Yet the Gospel has proved to be the power of God 
unto salvation even to Italians. It produced martyr 
heroes in the early centuries, and all through the ages 
there have been those who counted not their lives dear 
unto themselves. Some have been ready to die for 
an idea rather than for Christ. The mendicant orders 
are proof that the Italians were once capable of self- 
denial, and had zeal and perseverance. The names 
of Anselm, Arnold, Savonarola and many others 
will be immortal in the Church's catalogue of heroes. 
Especially in the northern part, in the smiling valleys 
and on the rugged slopes of the Alps have always 
been found a people of hardier moral fibre. Their 
whole religious history stamps them as rather Swiss 
than Italian or French, and their influence is felt and 
impressed upon the national character all through 
Piedmont and Lombardy. Here, if anywhere. Protest- 



Difficulties and Encouragements 177 

autism can get a firm foothold. Here there is material 
for Methodism already half formed. The religious 
conquest of Italy must proceed from the north. 

The difficulty, then, that exists in the national 
character is not insuperable, and, moreover, there are 
elements in the Italian character that are specially 
favorable to the spread of genuine Methodism. The 
people are naturally lively, enthusiastic, emotional, 
talkative, hospitable and generous. Everybody can 
sing and shout, too, when there is anything in his 
heart to shout over. The outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit into the hearts of our church members would 
transform them from '' silent partners" into shouting 
witnesses for Jesus. An Italian filled with the Spirit 
would not be able to keep still. Let not what we 
have heretofore said with regard to the mendicant 
spirit of many that hang around the evangelical 
churches be interpreted as applicable to all the Ital- 
ians. The better and nobler class of Italians Ave have 
not reached. Our system attracts the mendicant class 
just as molasses draws flies. When the pearl of great 
price is really revealed to the heart of an Italian, do 
not think that he will not be as ready to give his all 
for it as any other. The generosity of the people 
ought not to be judged by the conduct of hackmen and 
porters who beset the tourists and cry out for a mancia. 

Another difficulty that has been much magnified 
is the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Naturally that church tries to retain its own and keep 

12 



178 The Italy Mission 

its members from frequenting evangelical churches 
and its children from attending Sunday-schools. 
They have sometimes defeated or delayed the build- 
ing of a Protestant church. A colporteur in some 
out-of-the-way town has now and then been ill-used. 
Unstable members have been drawn back into the 
Catholic Church by worldly inducements, and many 
are hindered from breaking away from Catholicism 
because of social and commercial relations. But the 
opposition to Protestantism is not what it was forty 
years ago. The cry of " down with the Papacy " is now 
popular. The Protestants have the protection of the 
Liberal party as against the Clericals. All Protestant 
worship is tolerated and protected by the government. 
A large proportion of the people have no sympathy 
whatever with the Papal Church. They have for- 
saken the confessional and the mass. The Pope has 
more influence over his Catholic subjects in America 
than in Italy. The nearer to Rome one gets, the more 
disgust one finds with Popery. To ascribe, then, our 
lack of success to the oppositions of Catholicism is a 
vain excuse. The bare mention of the Jesuits is suf- 
ficient with some to account for all failure. There 
are multitudes of Catholics in Italy that are only 
nominally so and would respond quickly to the touch 
of spiritual fire. 

A greater obstacle is to be found in indifferentism 
to reliction. Knowino^ nothino^ better than Catholicism 
they reject religion altogether. Many declare them- 



Difficulties and Encouragements 179 

selves deists and atheists. Infidel journals are numer- 
ous. In Germany and Switzerland we have seen the 
Catholic churches crowded Avith evidently devout 
worshipers. The example and the opposition of Prot- 
estantism are a barrier to indifferentism in the Cath- 
olic Church. In Italy very few men are seen at the 
mass, and preaching is rare except in Lent. On 
Sunday morning the women go to mass and a few 
men. In the afternoon they go to the horse-race or 
whatever amusement there may be, and in the even- 
ing to the theater or cafe. Only intense spiritual 
earnestness born of the Holy Ghost can awake the 
people from this indifference. The Gospel in Italy 
must be accompanied with mighty power. A style of 
Christianity that verges almost upon fanaticism is 
needed. Old-fashioned Methodism, we believe, is bet- 
ter adapted to the needs of Italy than any other form 
of Christianity, i.e., a Methodism that insists upon 
immediate repentance, upon the direct witness of the 
Spirit, and upon an uttermost salvation as the privi- 
lege and duty of every believer, and not only insists 
upon these truths, but testifies as to their conscious 
reality. Such preaching and testimony would have 
opposition enough from Catholics and Protestants 
alike, and sleepy indifferentism would wake up and 
get mad and then — converted. 

A great difficulty in the way of the advance of 
Protestantism in Italy is the divisions among the 
Protestants themselves. The Evangelical Alliance 



180 The Italy Mission 

met at Florence in 1891 and talked about unity and 
harmony, and some almost quarreled in the discussion. 
It was evident to all who were acquainted with the 
situation that petty jealousy and ecclesiastical ambi- 
tion prevent union or hearty co-operation. The larger 
denomination is, us usual, accused of pride and pres- 
tige. The weak one grumbles because he cannot be 
as big as somebody else. Within a denomination 
there are parties and cliques, and it seems that every- 
body is for himself in particular and for his denomi- 
nation in general. Can any one tell what essential 
reason there is for two branches of Methodism in 
Italy with separate ecclesiastical organization? The 
Wesleyans were there before us. If the Methodist 
Episcopal Church felt bound to do something for the 
religious regeneration of Italy, why not have given 
some financial aid to the Wesleyans and let them 
cultivate that part of the Lord's vineyard? Some 
want to spread the Methodist Episcopal Church all 
around the globe and have an idea that it is going to 
swallow up all others. What is the matter with the 
other branches of Methodism? What ails the Mother 
of us all ? She wanted to unite with us at the begin- 
ning of our mission work in Italy, but her offer was 
refused.^ We approve the sentiment of a Bishop who 
said in our study, "Why could not the Methodist 
Episcopal Church have given ten thousand dollars a 

1 See Dr. Reid's Missions and Missionary Society of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. II., p. 333. 



Difficulties and Encouragements 181 

year to the Waldensians and bid them God-speed in 
the evangelization of Italy ? " We prefer Methodism 
to Waldensianism, i. e., genuine, historic Methodism. 
In some respects we profer historic Waldensianism to 
what it is to-day. We believe it has been weakened 
by being helped too much.^ Still they are doing bet- 
ter than any other evangelical church in Italy. What 
real reason is there for the existence of another Pres- 
byterian Church in Italy ? They have talked about 
uniting, but never will, so long as foreigners will fur- 
nish the money to maintain two rival organizations. 
All over the heathen world we hear the same lament 
about the divisions of Protestantism. In Japan the 
cry for union is being listened to. In Canada we have 
a united Methodism. In the United States the ques- 
tion of organic union is constantly agitated. Where is 
the reformer who will bring about not only this union 
of the branches of Methodism, but can see the excel- 
lencies of other denominations also and seek a union 
of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ under the com- 
mon name of the Evangelical Church? May God 
hasten his appearing. He is much needed in Italy. 

But if organic union is a present impossibility, 
there should be at least fraternity and co-operation. 

1 We recall a remark made by a missionary of long experi- 
ence in Egypt. He had spent a long vacation at Torre Pellice, 
among the Waldensians, and had studied their history and 
work. He said, " The Waldensians have been helped so long 
that they have lost their muscle." We might add that some 
other Churches in Italy have been helped so much from the 
beginning that they have never developed any muscle to lose. 



182 The Italy Mission 

To have this there must be mutual concessions and 
frequent consultations. All petty jealousies must be 
laid aside. The prosperity of any Church must be 
looked upon as so much gain to the common cause. 
The superintendents and leaders of all the Evangelical 
Churches ought to meet at least annually for prayer 
and consultation and continue in session two or three 
days. There is no good reason Avhy a uniform sys- 
tem of salaries could not be adopted, and we know 
that some sup,erintendents are heartily in favor of this. 
Then there would be no temptation for the preachers to 
pass from one denomination to another. There should 
be mutual agreement not to receive the disaffected 
members of another Church without consent of all 
parties concerned. This eagerness to swell the statis- 
tics by enrolling seceding members of other Churches 
is destructive to all church discipline. The abandon- 
ment of one's church Avithout sufficient reason should 
be considered an act of treachery, and any appearance 
of proselyting should be frowned upon. In occupy- 
ing new stations there should be an agreement not to 
interfere with the work of a sister Church and so far 
as possible to seek out those cities and villages that 
have not yet been evangelized. Mutual counsels 
might put an end to the formation of Sunday-schools 
by enrolling the children of another school. One 
Sunday-school is enough for any child. Some gen- 
eral rules for the treatment of the poor and for the care 
of the sick should be adopted, so as to put a stop to 



Difficulties and Encouragements 183 

the too common practice of seeking assistance from 
all the churches. » Some poor or lazy evangelicals 
wander around from church to church and prey upon 
the sympathies of the impulsively good. Begghig is 
not considered a dishonor in Italy, though forbidden 
by law. The monks and nuns have for centuries set 
the example and giveii, so to speak, dignity to the 
employment. Protestantism should teach its adherents 
industry and economy, and then in some systematic 
manner render assistance to the worthy poor. The 
funds for the relief of the poor should in all cases be 
collected amono^ the Italians, and not from foreim 
residents, tourists, or Missionary Societies. 

We have indicated some of many things that 
demand a mutual understanding among the various 
Evano^elical Churches. The discussion of these mio^ht 
lead to better understanding, heartier co-operation, 
less denominational pride, and more brotherly love, 
and so pave the way for organic union of Protestant- 
ism in Italy, if such a bright dawning is ever yet to 
rise. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SUPERVISION 

The establishment of the Italy Mission was 
debated many years in the Missionary Board. There 
has never been unanimity as to the wisdom of that 
movement. Many contend that our first duty is to 
evangelize the heathen world, and that foreign Prot- 
estant and Catholic lands should be left to work out 
their own needed religious reforms. Some even now 
are in favor of abandoning some of our Mission fields 
that have not yielded encouraging results in order to 
put the money where it will do more good. " To him 
that hath shall be given." The most successful Mis- 
sions naturally receive the largest share of sympathy 
and support. Every laborer wants to see the fruits 
of his effort. Every giver wants to know what results 
follow his contribution. An unsuccessful Mission can- 
not always be maintained. Patience gets exhausted 
after many years, and the contributors demand either 
an abandonment of such a Mission or the adoption of a 
new policy on which may be based a more reasonable 
expectation of success. 

Some who were not in favor of the establishment 



Supervision 185 

of the Italy Mission nevertheless urge its continuance. 
It is hard to acknowledge defeat or mistake. Meth- 
odism is slow to retreat from any post occupied. It 
has talked about abandoning Bulgaria for many years, 
and now sends a new superintendent with determina- 
tion to hold on. The Liberian Mission has never 
been considered a success, yet the church holds on to 
it and now there seems to be a new life infused into 
it by the adoption of ncAv methods and policy and by 
the personal inspiration of Bishop Taylor. So we 
doubt not the Missionary Society will continue to 
cultivate Italy as a mission field, and sometime — it 
may be after wearisome years of trying to believe that 
failure is comparative success — will change its policy 
and methods. Fortunately, or unfortunately as some 
may think, — Italy is too near home to escape obser- 
vation, and the Methodist tourist will investigate a 
little on his own private account, and write up the 
real condition of the Mission, if he can find a pub- 
lisher. We have already indicated by implication 
some absolutely necessary changes in financial policy. 
We proceed to mention others of great importance. 

There must be a more constant and careful super- 
vision. The Presiding Eldership may be abroad as 
well as at home a '' fifth wheel in the coach," or it 
may be a help to all the churches on the District. A 
good man may be rendered inefficient by putting upon 
him so much to do that he has time to do nothino^ 
well. He may visit all the stations three or four 



186 The Italy Mission 

times a year, spend one night or half the Sabbath at 
each station, preach and hold the Quarterly Conference 
and ask all the routine questions. The church is very 
little better off for such a visit, and he is very little 
wiser. What impression can a Presiding. Elder be 
expected to make upon the character and work of his 
preachers, when he has twenty-five or thirty stations 
stretched along a distance as great as our Atlantic 
coast-line, and who at the same time must teach 
Homiletics and Pastoral Theology in a Theological 
School, direct the publications of the Mission, look 
after a boys' school, superintend the erection of a 
building and collect the needful funds for the same, 
act as treasurer of the Mission and conduct a large 
correspondence? Yet this is precisely what is attempted 
in order, as some say, that there maybe '^ unrestricted 
and undivided authority." 

Now this policy must be changed if we expect to 
infuse the spirit of Methodism into the Italian Con- 
ference. It matters not how good and wise and able 
and scholarly and eloquent such a Presiding Elder may 
be, he cannot properly attend to all these duties. The 
bare statement of the case is a reductio ad ahsurdum. 
Six years ago the Italy Mission was large enough for 
two Presiding Elders with nothing else to do but 
attend to the supervision of their Districts. Why this 
change of policy? Can nobody else be found in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church fit to be entrusted with 
a part of these offices ? Are none of those on the field 



Supervision 187 

worthy and capable of sharing the responsibility? If 
not, why select such persons for foreign missionaries? 
Is it supposed that men of some independence of char- 
acter and that dare to think for themselves are going 
to content themselves in the Italy Mission without a 
share of its responsibility and a voice in shaping its 
policy? Men that could do so would prove thereby 
that they are unfit for the duties of missionaries. 

"Undivided authority" ! There is a fondness in 
some minds to reduce all things to unity. They don't 
see the difference between union sindi unity. Harmony 
means monotony to them, the silencing of all chords 
but one. By all means let us have union and harmony 
with resultant strength and melody. Who likes to 
listen long to a jew's-harp? Union and harmony 
imply many minds who think differently and " agree 
to disagree," and work for the same end, though in 
different ways. What reason is there that all the 
authority and all the offices should be in the hands 
of one man in the Italy Mission any more than in any 
other Mission or Conference in America? Suppose 
an American Conference with one Presiding Elder 
who is also Treasurer, Director of Publications, 
Editor and President of the Conference Seminary, 
having also a chair in the Theological School. Would 
there not be delightful harmony in that Conference? 
Such a plan would make a unity by reducing the rest 
of the Conference to zeros or infinitesimal fractions. 
There is not another Mission field organized on that 



188 The Italy Mission 

basis at present. It was tried in the early days of at 
least two other Missions of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church with the result that the unit had, in three 
cases we might mention, to be called home, because 
nobody else could form a union with him, and the men 
so re-called were some of the best men in our Church 
and highly honored to-day. The system spoiled them 
as missionaries. Sach an officer must be a Wesley 
or an Asbury with the necessity of suffering their 
hardships and privations as the price paid for his 
kingly sway. Otherwise it is ahiiost certain that he 
will become overbearing toward some and a prey to 
the flattery of others. There should be in Italy as in 
other Missions two or three Presiding Elders, and no 
one of these should be Treasurer of the Mission. The 
monthly payments necessitate his presence at home at 
times when the Presiding Elder should be visiting the 
stations and assisting in revival work. Then let all 
bills be endorsed by the Presiding Elder before pay- 
ment by the treasurer, and then audited by a committee 
not nominated or suggested by the treasurer himself. 
The spiritual influence of the Presiding Elder will be 
better, if he is not also the pay-master of the men on 
his District. These Presiding Elders ought to visit 
the stations more frequently and stay longer. They 
must teach our Italian preachers how to work, and 
illustrate their instruction by example. Bishop Taylor 
writes that he has visited every Methodist family in 
Monrovia. He did it in three weeks besides attending 



Supervision 189 

to other duties. This illustrates the needed work of 
a Presiding Elder in Italy. Our preachers especially 
need to be taught how to do pastoral work. During 
such a three weeks' visitation let him hold meetings 
every night in a circuit of appointments and teach the 
people what a real class-meeting and a prayer-meeting 
are. Make an altar service successful in saving souls, 
and the preachers will give up their opposition to it. 
In short the Presiding Elder needed in Italy and 
everywhere else must do the work of an Evangelist, 
and he must not be distracted by other duties and must 
have time for his work. His authority ought to con- 
sist in the enduem^nt of power from on high. 

We wish to emphasize this as the greatest need of 
the Mission, at least two American Presiding Elders, 
another American as editor of the weekly paper, 
another as Director of the Theological School, another 
at the head of the College to be established. Eive 
good men at least are imperatively needed, and these 
should consult together and shape the policy of the 
Mission. The government of the Mission should be 
republican and not monarchical. Unlimited mon- 
archies are getting out of style in these latter days. 

Supervision should mean something more than 
looking on and seeing what others do, something more 
than advising others what to do, something more than 
the exercise of authority. The supervisor must set 
the example and show the native preachers how to do 
the work and encourage them by his assistance. A 



190 The Italy Mission 

good deal of such work must be done in Italy. An 
American as settled pastor would be a failure in 
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, but as a novelty, 
to spend a few weeks at a station and press the work, 
the American supervisor is much needed. Why do 
we say American supervisor? Because there are 
absolutely no Italian Methodists yet prepared for such 
work. If they existed, Ave would prefer them to 
Americans. The Italy Mission must be treated as a 
new Mission, where foundations must be laid. We 
have now able native Presiding Elders in India and 
China, but it would have been folly to have appointed 
such in the early days of these Missions. Ten years 
more are needed to find an efficient Italian Presiding 
Elder. Unless the whole spirit and policy of the 
Mission are changed, we may search in vain for him 
for another century. 

Our Mission work not only in Italy but in all 
Europe demands for adequate supervision an Episcopal 
residence on the other side of the Atlantic. A Bishop 
for Europe, that is not a Bishop, will not do. The 
thing needed is a full-fledged Bishop who might make 
his winter residence in Rome and summer residence 
in Switzerland or Germany. If he already knows 
German or French, so much the better. Then let 
him learn Italian and visit the stations often enough 
and stay long enough to learn their real condition and 
needs. In four years he would be able to form some 
independent conception of the state of the work. At 



Supervision 191 

present there is a new Bishop every year. He stays 
from five days to three weeks. He sees the principal 
churches and picture galleries. He preaches half a 
dozen times through an interpreter. That is very 
good for the people, but the Bishop would learn more 
if he could hear somebody else preach. He sees the 
Mission principally with his ears, i.e., he listens to a 
description and explanation of everything from his 
constant attendant, the Presiding Elder. Consequently 
he knows little more about the Mission than his travel- 
ing companion wants him to know. The same Pre- 
siding Elder writes all the reports for the Missionary 
Year-book and encouraging squibs for the papers and 
periodicals. The responsibility of his position blinds 
him to the true condition of the work. Everything is 
set forth in the most favorable light. The Bishop 
goes away having been feted and complimented by all, 
and half convinced at least that in such good hands 
the Mission must prosper in the future, if it has not 
prospered in the past. This is called episcopal super- 
vision, though, as we have heretofore said, the visit 
of Bishop Walden was in some respects an exception. 
Still a residence of four years in Europe would of 
necessity greatly modify his opinions. We do not 
write this as a criticism of any Bishop. The system 
in vogue does not admit of anything better. If some 
Bishops have staid but a few days, this was because 
other duties called them elsewhere. There should be 
a system that will permit a Bishop to properly inves- 



192 The Italy Mission 

tigate the work. A resident Bishop might aid much 
by his counsels, do much even through an interpreter, 
and help forward, by his influence in America, many 
important enterprises of our European Missions. 

We are aware that the intimation that even a 
Bishop may visit Italy and come away with incorrect 
notions of the real state of the work may be consid- 
ered presumptuous and be ungraciously received. It 
is good, however, to " see ourselves as others see us." 
The opinion of an Italian who has been a preacher 
in the Italy Conference seventeen years and the only 
Italian who ever served as Presiding Elder, may here 
be of interest and profit as touching the matter of 
supervision. In a printed address to an official he 
writes as follows, in a style that reminds us of the 
satires of Horace : 

The annual visits of the Bishops and the quarterly visits 
of the Presiding Elder, in the districts and stations, never 
modified a state of things that demanded a prompt and ener- 
getic provision. 

Is the Bishop to come? He is advertised several months 
in advance. There is diffused a certain ferment of curiosity, 
preparations are made, circulars are forwarded, — what news? 
Will he be good, will he be bad? Will he do good to the 
work of Italy, or harm ? Has he inflaence, is he esteemed, 
is he learned ? Will he be dressed with the miter and the 
cope, or like any ordinary citizen ? Will he have a moustache 
or chin whiskers like a he-goat ? 

The Bishop arrives, goes about; curiosity, crowd, ferment, 
to see the man of the woods, and afterwards — things remain 
as before. 

For the Presiding Elder, in more modest proportions, 
takes place nearly the same thing. 



Supervision 193 

The Bishop will do nothing out of regard for the local 
authority; the Conference has its hands tied; the Presiding 
Elder, guided by regard for his own interests, for the Bishop 
and for the General Committee, must guard himself well from 
diminishing the statistics, and from closing up any fruitless 
station. What would be said? Under Tizio the stations 
were 100; now under Caio they are 50; therefore Tizio is a 
great man and Caio is a mediocrity, — without taking into 
account the causes that produced the difference. 

The self-interest of the Presiding Elder does not permit 
him to cut short, but urges him to let alone, to allow to pass, 
to extend rather than concentrate. Thus we have a ruinous, 
enervating expansion instead of a concentric, intensive force. 
The Conference, meanwhile, is condemned to look on and be 
silent." 

To show further the feeling of the Italian preachers 
respecting the supervision of the work we quote from 
a printed address to the annual Conference held in 
May, 1894, at Milan. The writer is Rev. S. V. Ravi, 
who has for many years been connected with our Mis- 
sion and last year represented it before some of our 
leading churches in the United States. He writes : 

I. " I have said that the Italian Conference, if it would 
see prosperity, should be divided into at least three Districts, 
having three different Presiding Elders. 

II. I have said that the Treasurer of our Conference 
should occupy himself with all its material interests from 
Palermo to Geneva, with the direction of our Publishing 
House, with the publication of our papers, books and pam- 
phlets, and that he may be at most also Professor in our Theo- 
logical School, but nothing else, because there is a proverb 
which says, chi troppo abbraccia poco stringe (grasp all, lose 
all). One man alone cannot do everything." 

We commend these citations to the thoughtful 
perusal of the powers that be. We know that they 
express the real convictions of the Italy Conference. 

13 



CHAPTER XY 

EVANGELIZATIOX OF ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS 

The idea is too prevalent that missionary work 
means work in some far-off land. Hence, the needs 
of the unconverted who live at the next door are often 
neglected. Missionary enthusiasts have re-echoed the 
sentiment that ''there are no heathen in America." 
It is true, thank God, that there are comparatively 
few pagans in the United States, but in the same 
sense we might say '' There are no heathen in Italy, 
or Germany, or several other mission fields of ours." 

There are plenty of foreigners in America who 
need evangelization, and not a few of these are Ital- 
ians. They are landing in New York at the rate of 
75,000 annually. There are 70,000 of them in one 
section of New York City, called "Little Italy." 
There are 30,000 in Philadelphia, and as many more 
in Chicago. Other cities have a growing mass of 
Italian population, and Boston has at least 15,000. 
There are probably half a million Italians in the 
United States. What is the Methodist Episcopal 
Church doing for them ? 

We have rented halls in New York, Philadelphia, 



Evangelization of Italian Immigrants 195 

and New Orleans. In Boston we cannot even afford 
to hire a ball, but use tbe audience room of tbe 
Nortb-Street Mission, gratuitously offered for our 
Italian preacbing services. We bave not yet built a 
cburcb for tbe Italians in tbis country. We bave no 
missions at any otber points tban tbose mentioned 
above. For work in tbese four cities our General 
Missionary Society appropriates less tban $4,000 
annually. Look at tbe disproportion. Fifty thousand 
dollars annually for Italy, and less tban four thousand 
for the Italians in America. Can tbis be accounted 
for in any otber way tban on tbe supposition that we 
do not yet realize the duty and the importance of 
evano^elizino^ tbe Italians who come to our shores? 
Oh, let us go to the uttermost parts of the earth, and 
convert the heathen, and reform the corrupt State 
religions of Europe, while we leave almost unnoticed 
tbe hordes of immigrants that are pouring in upon 
us I Let us save the Catholics abroad, and do almost 
nothing to convert tbe millions of Catholics at home ! 
All this looks more like religious knight-errantry tban 
like real missionary enterprise, prompted by a desire 
to save sinners wherever they may be found. By all 
means let us send missionaries so far as possible and 
wise, to every land that needs them ; but let us not 
overlook tbe multitudes that God in His Providence 
has sent to us for some religious purpose. 

It may be that the Methodist Episcopal Church is 
trying to spread herself out over too much surface. 



196 The Italy Mission 

We are not the only band of Christians in the world, 
and some things may be safely left for other denomi- 
nations to do. There is no crying need that everything 
should be done in the Methodist way. The Walden- 
sians, for example, are doing some things in Italy 
better than we can. The Inner Mission in Germany 
is doing quite as good work as Methodism in that 
land. Instead of doing just a little in every land under 
the sun, would it not be better to mass our forces, and 
do something well and grandly in a few places ? The 
work that demands immediate attention and strenuous 
endeavor is the evangelization of the ignorant and 
superstitious millions who are filling up our cities. 
We note some reasons for missionary work of a much 
more extensive and thorough character among the 
Italians in the United States. 

1. Certainly no class of immigrants needs the help 
of missionaries more than the Italians. It is well 
known that the greater part of them are from the poor 
and ignorant classes. In Southern Italy and Sicily, 
whence the majority of the Italian immigrants come, 
80 per cent, are unable to read. Their Catholicism 
is of the more superstitious type. They are for the 
most part ignorant of true religion. In morality 
those who come from the rural districts are superior, 
of course, to the offscourings of the great cities, and 
we are told that the great majority are from the peas- 
ant class. Still, the national conscience of Italy has 
been cauterized. Immorality, especially in the forms 



Evangelization of Italian Immigrants 197 

of impurity and untruthfulness, is prevalent through- 
out Catholic countries. Their ignorance keeps them 
in a religious and moral state that borders close 
upon paganism. They sorely need the Gospel in its 
purity and fulness. These Italian immigrants need it 
more than their average fellow-countrymen in Rome, 
Naples, and other large cities of Italy, where there 
are already half a dozen or more evangelical churches. 

Their poverty has driven them from their native 
land to find work. They are willing to do anything 
to gain bread. They herd in the cities because they 
have not money enough to get to the far West, or they 
do not know on what easy terms land may be acquired 
in this country. During the summer gangs of Italians 
swarm out from the cities under the direction of some 
padrone^ and think themselves fortunate to get $1.25 
per day.- During the winter they find but little to do, 
and many suffer from poverty. Then is the time that 
they can be reached by the missionary. They need 
Christian sympathy and aid, and legal protection 
from fraudulent extortioners no less than religious 
instruction. They are not rufiians who stealthily 
waeld the stiletto. Few are of this type. They are in- 
offensive and courteous, unless maltreated or drunken. 
They flash quickly, talk loudly, and subside speedily. 

Their first great need is to learn to read and speak 
the English language. Until this is done, they will 
be cheated by the padroni^ or bosses. To this end 
evening schools must be established, and these must be 



198 The Italy Mission 

largely missionary and charitable enterprises. They 
need the gospel of kindness and good works just now, 
even more than to be talked to about religion. They 
should be treated with the hospitality due to wayfaring 
guests. To give them money, soup, or old clothes, 
does not meet their requirements, and often may do 
more harm than good. Give them instruction, pro- 
tection, sympathy — in short, the Gospel in word and 
deed. 

2. Another reason for evangelization among the 
Italians in America is, that it promises greater and 
more speedy results than in Italy. They are, in a 
large measure, released from the control of the priest- 
hood. They come in daily contact with free Ameri- 
can thought. They are not bound to Catholicism by 
the same social and commercial ties as in Italy. Here 
they can become Protestants without so much danger 
of financial loss, or of social ostracism. Their love 
of liberty, nourished by the political events of the last 
generation, inclines them to throw off the dominion 
of the priests, and embrace a religion that offers free- 
dom to the whole inner man. 

The most zealous adherents of Roman Catholicism 
are the women, and they hinder their husbands and 
children from becoming Protestants. Now, these are, 
for the most part, left behind, till a permanent foot- 
hold can be found in America. This release from the 
restraints of family makes the Italians among us an 
easier prey to vice and on the other hand more acces- 



Evangelization of Italian Immigrants 199 

sible to the influences of the Gospel. Their freedom 
is their danger, as is so often the case. 

These reasons make it more easy to get their 
attention. The opportunity also to do them acts of 
kindness, Ave will not say of charity, is great, and 
nothing moves them more than applied Christianity. 
Experience has proved that they can be reached and 
converted more readily here than in Italy. The re- 
sults in Boston are of the most encouraging character. 
Nothing like them has ever been seen in our Mission 
in Italy. 

Rev. Gaetano Conte was transferred from the 
Italy Conference and began his work in Boston in 
October, 1893. He was able at once to adapt himself 
to the needs of his countrymen. He preaches in the 
North Street Mission Hall. His house at 45 Charter 
Street is full of Sunday-school children every Sab- 
bath and of youth learning to read, write, etc., four 
evenings of every week. The other two evenings are 
occupied with religious services. He has gathered a 
church of 126 members. His Epworth League under 
the name of Circolo Umaniiario has 750 members. 

Professor H. G. Mitchell writes thus in Zion^s 
Herald : 

" The best part of the report from our Italian Mission is 
that there is hope for it. During the last two weeks between 
fifteen and twenty persons have joined the church, and there 
is no reason, except in the limited accommodations at our 
disposal, why the growth should not continue indefinitely. 
Do the Methodists of Boston realize that it is within their 
power within five years, to develop in the city and its vicinity 



200 The Italy Mission 

a larger and stronger membership than the united Methodist 
Churches now have in the whole kingdom of Italy ? All that 
we need to bring about this result is a little more money and 
enthusiasm." 

With sufficient accommodations, a great multitude 
can be soon gathered into the fold of Christ. Let us 
not be too anxious to make them Methodists at first. „ 
Christianity is a great deal bigger than Methodisrd. 
If Methodism will manifest more of Christianity than 
any other denomination, we shall get all the adherents 
we can take care of. 

This work amono^ the Italian immio-rants belono^s 
to both Home and Foreign Missions. Can any one tell 
why work among the eight thousand Italian emi- 
grants in Geneva, Switzerland, should be called a for- 
eign mission, any more than work among the fifteen 
thousand Italians in Boston? Can any one suggest 
any reason why more money should be spent for the 
former than for the latter, as has actually been the 
case? 

3. The conversion of Italians in America has an 
important bearing upon the conversion of those in 
Italy. Why has our work so prospered in Grermany 
and Scandinavia ? A principal reason is that it was 
established and developed largely by immigrants from 
those countries converted in America, and trained up 
in the spirit of Methodism, knowing and loving our 
doctrines, history and modes of evangelization. Moved 
by love for their countrymen they returned to convey 
the good tidings of salvation through faith in Jesus 



Evangelization of Italian Immigrants 201 

and the testimony of the Spirit. With a thorough 
knowledge of the language and the people, thej were 
able to do what others have not done, in going to a 
people of strange speech and customs. One of our 
most practical Bishops has expressed the conviction 
that our first set of real Italian Methodist preachers 
must be trained up in America. There is a spirit of 
Methodism breathed in our churches and frontier cir- 
€uits, conferences and camp-meetings, that cannot be 
imparted in a theological school. 

This spirit cannot be well caught bj sending over 
joung men from Italy to be educated in our theologi- 
cal schools in America, at the expense of the Educa- 
tional Society or of private persons. A host of young 
men would grasp at such an opportunity of travel and 
education gratis. Many attempts of this kind have 
been made with young men from various foreign coun- 
tries, and the results are very discouraging. Most of 
them prefer to remain in America. Many find they 
€an lecture a little, and get collections by playing upon 
the sympathies of good-natured and credulous people. 
They drift away to other churches, or to employments 
at w^hich they can get more money. 

Our theological schools are not good places to 
make Methodists, but very excellent places to make 
preachers out of young men Avho are already Method- 
ists. Let some of the Italian immigrants, who have 
learned our language, known the sacrifices of the 
ministry and have proved themselves to be winners of 



202 The Italy Mission 

souls, be transferred to Italy, and we shall see im- 
planted there a real Methodism. The shortest way 
to get Italy converted is to get the Italians in America 
converted. 

4. The ignorant multitude of foreigners constantly 
pouring in upon us must be Christianized in order to 
be Americanized. Our civil as well as religious in- 
stitutions are at stake. The preservation of the public 
schools and of the sanctity of the Sabbath, allegiance 
to the American government rather than to the Pope, 
the furtherance of the temperance cause, the proper 
control of so-called socialistic movements, the pre- 
vention of riots and anarchy, all demand our utmost 
endeavors for the salvation and Christian (we may 
say Protestant) education of the immigrants, for these 
evils are rife in Roman Catholic countries. If we do 
not save them they will destroy us. Some would 
lessen the evil by legal restriction of immigration. 
This remedy is not sufficient ; it is better to welcome 
and transform them by the power of the Gospel. We 
see no good reason Avhy America should be reserved 
for the descendants of those who got here first. 

The increase of the Roman Catholic Church in the 
United States is a cause of alarm to many, while 
many others contemplate this increase with idle indif- 
ference. For the most part the Roman Catholics are 
left to themselves, and scarcely any effort is being 
made to bring them to a saving faith in Christ. How 
few Missions there are of any Church whose object is 



Evangelization of Italian Immigrants 203 

to convert the Roman Catholic populations ! Yet 
conversion is the only effectual remedy for the threat- 
ened evils. The truth seems to be that the Evangel- 
ical Church in America does not fully believe in the 
necessity of conversion on the part of the Roman 
Catholics in general. It charitably believes that there 
are many good, sincere Christians among them in 
spite of the errors of their belief. Such charity is 
commendable, but ought not to be pressed too far. 
''By their fruits ye shall know them." If members 
of any Church do not give evidence in their lives of a 
regenerated heart, it is better to assume that they 
need to have the real Gospel of Christ preached to 
them. If such be not the practical conclusion in 
America, what need is there of establishing Missions 
in Italy? To be sure there are good Catholics in 
every land, and there are some good heathens, who^ 
fearing God and working righteousness, are accepted 
of Him. All alike need the Gospel in order that 
more may be saved than otherwise would be, and, if 
^we look not at the issues of the next world, in order 
that here on this earth may be extended everywhere 
the true spiritual kingdom of God, a pure and holy 
Church, with all the temporal blessings that flow from 
Christian civilization. God's plans include something 
more than the salvation of individual souls. They 
mean the regeneration of society and that the king- 
doms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER XYI 

COXCLUSIOX 

We have tried, during our stay in the Italy Mis- 
sion and in the preparation of this book, to fulfill the 
duty to which we were called and ' ' to give the Church 
the benefit of one more intelligent American judgment 
as to plans and methods of work in evangelization 
among Roman Catholics." The reader must judge 
Tvhether the criticisms herein contained are hasty and 
injudicious. The statement of facts can be easily con- 
firmed by abundance of testimony. 

While we hope to have suffered no abatement of 
missionary zeal, we think that zeal is more according 
to knowlegde than heretofore. Distance now lends 
no special enchantment to the view. Our catalogue 
of missionary heroes has greatly increased, and among 
the foremost in the list are the names of those who 
have labored their life long on the small circuits of 
New England or on the western frontier. No foreign 
missionaries of our Church have suffered the priva- 
vations of these. When we call to mind the men who 
in the Maine Conference have toiled on year after 
year, receiving a salary of from $300 to $500, given 



Co^XLUsION 205 

generously and solicited from house to house, in 
order to afford their Italian brethren in the ministry 
a salary twice their own, we ask, who are the real 
missionaries ? And we can pick out of the Maine 
Conference a score of men who in piety, sound sense, 
and intellectual ability are the peers of any in the 
Italy Conference. We know personally some who 
covet, as we did, the honor of being sent abroad as 
missionaries. Comfort yourselves, brethren. If your 
soul's ambition is to lay your lives on the altar of 
sacrifice for the advancement of Christ's kingdom, 
you cannot find any better place to do it than right 
Avhere you are. If your desire is to see the fruits of 
your labor and to leave behind you a goodly compafiy 
who shall attribute their salvation to your influence, 
work on in the villages at home. If some little pent- 
up Utica confines your powers, form a circuit of ap- 
pointments in the country school-houses about you, and 
press some of your local preachers, exhorters, and 
class-leaders into the service as helpers. Or if you 
are blessed with that El Dorado of many, a city appoint- 
ment, and still long to preach to foreigners, get an 
interpreter and organize a Sunday-school and evan- 
gelistic services among the French, Italians, Chinese^ 
etc., that are swarming all around you. 

It is not our desire to cease missionary endeavor 
in foreign lands or to lessen contributions for spread- 
ing the Gospel throughout the world. We only want 
a 'wise expenditure of the money contributed and a 



206 The Italy Mission 

full and impartial report of the work accomplished. 
Let the mistakes of the past be acknowledged and 
rectified. It is far better to abandon some fields than 
to continue a fruitless policy. 

This book may lead some to distrust the fullness 
and accuracy of missionary reports and speeches. 
There is ground for such distrust. We wish some 
competent person would give us an impartial history 
of the Bulgarian and Liberian Missions. We doubt 
not it would contribute ultimately to greater success 
in those lands. We have many reasons for thinking 
that the same erroneous policy that has hindered 
prosperity in Italy has prevailed and in some measure 
still prevails in these Missions. When Bishop Taylor 
says in one of his reports that in Liberia we have 
raised up a great company of " pedantic beggars " we 
want to know the reason why. We want something 
more than the report of a Bishop who has surveyed 
the Mission with a spy-glass from the deck of a vessel. 
And we want from all our Missions more than the 
report of a tourist or prejudiced superintendent. A 
minority report is also frequently very useful. 

And now may God bless every sincere and faith- 
ful worker who, however unsuccessfully, is striving to 
build up His kingdom on the earth, and may the 
Church at home and abroad purify herself even as He 
is pure, and so be filled with wisdom and clothed with 
power for the conquest of the world for Christ. 



THE EVIDENCE OF SALVATION; 



OR 



THE DIRECT WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 
By Rev. EVERETT S. STACKPOLE. D.D. 



i6ino, viii. -f- 115 pages. Cloth, 50 Cents. 



" Dear Dr. Stackpole : 

I have read your book on Inward Witness. There is no creak of 
the crank in it. It is wise, scriptural, positive, and broad. I believe 
its statements, and shall heartily recommend it to Christians, young 
and old, and to sinners too; for, if there is anything a sensible sinner 
wants, it is a religion with power, and light, and witness in it. God 
bless you, and crown your life with usefulness ! 
Sincerely yours, 

(Bishop) JOHN H. YINCEXT." 

*' The work seems to me timely and true. I do not know where 1 
could find a treatment of the theme so scriptural, and, at the same 
time, so clear and judicial. 1 hope it may have a wide circulation." 

W. F. WARREN, 
President of Boston University. 

Dr. Stackpole, in a simple, unaffected, and yet most effective, 
earnest style, states the question, and then proceeds logically to 
demonstrate the proof of it. He writes with the eloquence of one 
who appreciates the value of what he is teaching. He wastes no 
words, but proceeds directly to the argument. His sincerity is so 
manifest that his faith is contagious and full of inspiration. He 
is practical, calm, earnest, and deeply religious. 

— The Christian Advocate. 

*' This book will take its place among the best of those which have 
been issued on this important subject." — Zion'^s Herald. 

" I wish all my fellow workers in the vineyard of the Lord Avould 
read and circulate this book." 

Rev. R. E. BISBEE, 
In The Columbia Christian Advocate. 

"Is not dogmatic, or partisan, or assertive. It is calm, judicial, 
tender, and written in a reverent spirit. It may be heartily com- 
mended for private devotional iise, and as a very helpful manual in 
Christian work." VlSiOY. JOHN S. SEWALL, D.D., 

Bangor Theological Seminary. 



" This is a much-needed, condensed manual on a practical subject 
of vital importance to ministers, evangelists, and Christian workers 
who are directing seekers and uncertain believers. It is the out- 
growth of the author's struggles for j^ears in the wilderness of 
doubt where he had lost his way through a misapprehension of the 
nature of the direct witness of the Spirit. But having at last 
emerged, he has set about planting guide-boards along the road that 
leads to the sunlit summits of assurance, and caution -signals opposite 
the ways which lead into the endless mazes of uncertainty. Half of 
the book is taken up with an exposure of errors on this subject, such 
as the agnostic position of Romanism ; the witness of conscience, or 
feeling better because the sinner has taken a right step ; the indirect 
witness of the Spirit, which can never satisfy before the direct wit- 
ness is heard inspiring the cry, 'Abba, Father;' the witness of the 
Word to personal adoption, as absurd as the testimony of the general 
statutes of the state to the pardon of the convict; and ' the witness of 
faith,' a recent invention, a presumption which leads many to stop 
short of the Spirit's direct testimony. The style of the author is so 
concise and crystalline that it lures the reader to read the book 
through in one sitting. The four chapters which conclude the book 
are : • Direct Witness of the Spirit,' * Mode of the Spirit's Witness,' 
' What are the Conditions ? ' and * The Abiding Witness.' It is a very 
timely treatise, and should be studied by every preacher of the 

Gospel." 

Rev. DANIEL STEELE, D.D., 

Author of ''Love Unthroned.^^ 

A Good Book for Senior Epworth Workers. 
" Rev. E. S. Stackpole, D.D., has prepared a condensed manual on 
the Witness of the Spirit. It is a clear statement of .this subject from 
the Biblical point of view, and is well worth reading by all who 
desire to deal directly with God in their relation to this great doc- 
trine of our church." 

Rev. E. M. TAYLOR, 

President of N. E. District Epworth League. 



For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid by the publishers or 
author upon receipt of price. 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL S CO.,'''^^os?on."' 

Sent postpaid by the author, together with his "4^ Years in the 
Italy Mission," on receipt of one dollar. 

Address, Auburn, Me. 



LEJL 10 



4i YEARS 



IN THE 



ITALY MISSION 



A CRITICISM 



OF 



MISSIONARY METHODS 



P.Y 



Rev. EVERETT S. STACKPOLE, D.D. 



\ 



/5/ 



7^ 



